Short communicationCharacterization of H5N1 highly pathogenic mink influenza viruses in eastern China
Introduction
Since the initial isolation of the H5N1 subtype of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus in geese in China, the H5N1 virus has been shown to be actively circulating in domestic and wild birds in many countries. Furthermore, H5N1 subtype HPAI viruses continue to undergo substantial evolution revealed by extensive genetic divergence and re-assortment between other subtypes of influenza viruses, giving rise to multiple viral clades and gene constellations. Moreover, these viruses have caused hundreds of human infections and deaths, and remain of global concern (Chen, 2009, Chen et al., 2007). Further, these viruses are capable of infecting a larger variety of animals. To date, most reported H5N1 infections and outbreaks have occurred in poultry and wild birds and a limited number of cases have been reported in mink. Prior to this report there was only a single report of mink H5N1 influenza virus (A/mink/Sweden/V907/2006(H5N1), V907) (Kiss et al., 2008). In 2015, we isolated two H5N1 mink influenza viruses from two mink farms in eastern China. Here, we have characterized the genetics, antigenicity, and pathogenicity of these two viruses in chickens, mice and mink.
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Ethics statement
This study was conducted according to the animal welfare guidelines of the World Organization for Animal Health (Terrestrial Animal Health Code), and approved by the Committee on ethics from the China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center (Qingdao, China).
Virus isolation
On June 30, 2015, on a farm in eastern China, infected mink began to appear with clinical symptoms, including neurological signs and an abrupt increase in mink mortality. These events occurred less than two weeks after an H5N1 outbreak was
Molecular and phylogenetic analysis
The HA genes of G15 and XB15 viruses contained a series of basic amino acids (PQIERRRRKR/GLF and PQRERRRKR/GLF) at the cleavage sites, indicating that these two viruses were highly pathogenic. The receptor binding sites in the viral HA genes possess the residues Q226 and G228 (H3 numbering), which suggested that these two viruses would preferentially bind to avian-like receptors (Tharakaraman et al., 2013). The phylogenetic relationship of the HA gene sequences of the G15 and XB15 viruses in
Discussion
Since 1997, H5 subtype influenza viruses have been widely distributed and capable of infecting various types of animals. To date, most of the reported H5 infections and outbreaks have occurred in domestic poultry and wild birds with fewer reports in mink. Until recently, there existed only one mink H5 influenza virus (V907) in GenBank, which was isolated from Sweden in 2006. Here, we isolated two H5N1 influenza viruses, G15 and XB15, from mink in eastern China in 2015. Phylogenetic analyses
Conflicts of interest
None.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Sci-tech Basic Work Project of Ministry of Science and Technology of China (SQ2012FY3260033).
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