Short communication
A serological survey of avian origin canine H3N2 influenza virus in dogs in Korea

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetmic.2009.01.019Get rights and content

Abstract

Canine H3N2 influenza viruses of avian origin were recently isolated and found to induce disease in dogs. Results of serologic analysis indicate that avian origin canine influenza virus can spread rapidly through local dog populations, which indicates its potential for becoming established in dogs throughout Korea.

Introduction

Influenza A virus, a member of the genus orthomyxovirus, is an economically costly disease in humans, pigs, horses, and fowls (Wright and Webster, 2001). The interspecies transmission of this virus is a crucial feature of its ecology and epidemiology (Webster, 1998). Examples of interspecies transmission of influenza viruses include recent human and dog infections with the H5N1 subtype avian influenza virus and recent canine infections with the H3N8 equine influenza virus (Crawford et al., 2005, Guan et al., 2004, Thaweesak et al., 2006). In addition, influenza infections were recently reported in species (cats and dogs) that historically do not carry influenza viruses (Keawcharoen et al., 2005). Significantly, another recent study reported the unprecedented interspecies transmission of a complete avian H3N2 influenza virus to dogs, especially in South Korea, where avian influenza viruses (H3N2, H5N1, H6N1, and H9N2) are now circulating or have been detected (Choi et al., 2005). Infections with this new avian origin canine influenza virus have been associated with the development of acute respiratory disease and the virus can spread from dog to dog by contact infection (Song et al., 2008, Song et al., 2009). The emergence of new H3N2 avian virus subtypes and their interspecies transmission to dogs is a worrying development. However, the extent of avian influenza infection in dogs is not yet clear. Consequently, we here examined the sero-prevalence of avian H3N2 influenza in farmed and pet dogs in South Korea in June through to December 2007.

Section snippets

Field samples

In June through to December 2007, 829 serum samples were collected from 361 farmed dogs and 468 pet dogs from five dog farms, one domestic animal market, and 60 animal hospitals. The five dog farms were chosen on the basis of their herd size and geographical location and included farms in three of the country's states that had the highest productivity in terms of dog production. In addition, one unique market, the Moran market in Gyeonggi-do, was selected because it sells many domestic animals,

Serological surveillance

When the 361 farmed dog sera were subjected to NP-specific ELISAs, anti-influenza virus antibodies were detected in 68 samples (19%) (Table 1). Of the sera from the Moran market, Chungbuk, Cheonbuk, Gangwon, Gyeongbuk and Gyeongnam, 11%, 6%, 100%, 0%, 0% and 3.8% had antibodies, respectively. The exceptionally high-seropositivity rate in Cheonbuk (100%) reflects the fact that all samples from this province were from a dog farm that had undergone an acute outbreak of CIV before sampling. Use of

Discussion

Recently, three genetically similar canine influenza H3N2 viruses of avian origin were isolated from three different pet dogs with severe respiratory disease (Song et al., 2008). Here, we report for the first time that avian H3N2 influenza is present at low but detectable frequencies in farmed and pet dogs, as indicated by serological testing.

We observed that avian origin canine infected influenza was significantly more frequently prevalent in farmed dogs than pet dogs (19% vs. 0.5%), as

Conclusion

In summary, we have shown that there is a currently a relatively low seroprevalence of canine H3N2 influenza viruses in farmed and pet dogs in Korea. Therefore, if the avian origin influenza virus had been spread in dogs, concerns of rapid spread in farms and animal hospitals were occurred. These observations highlight the need for monitoring dogs in animal hospitals and farms and the development of a canine H3N2 vaccine.

Acknowledgements

We thank the staffs of the GCVP, Korea and Animal Genetics, Korea for their assistances. We also thank Patrick for revision and editing the articles.

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These authors contributed equally to this work.

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