Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

J Virol 2021 Jun 23:JVI0044521. Epub 2021 Jun 23.

Institute of Molecular Virology and Cell Biology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses H5N8 clade 2.3.4. Read More

J Virol 2021 Jun 23:JVI0075921. Epub 2021 Jun 23.

Center for Vaccines and Immunology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.

The hemagglutinin (HA) surface protein is the primary immune target for most influenza vaccines. The neuraminidase (NA) surface protein is often a secondary target for vaccine designs. In this study, computationally optimized broadly reactive antigen methodology was used to generate the N1-I NA vaccine antigen that was designed to cross-react with avian, swine, and human influenza viruses of N1 NA subtype. Read More

Epidemics 2021 May 29;36:100472. Epub 2021 May 29.

Department of Zoology, Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Electronic address:

Introduction: Many countries with an early outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 struggled to gauge the size and start date of the epidemic mainly due to limited testing capacities and a large proportion of undetected asymptomatic and mild infections. Iran was among the first countries with a major outbreak outside China.

Methods: We constructed a globally representative sample of 802 genomes, including 46 samples from patients inside or with a travel history to Iran. Read More

Access Microbiol 2021 13;3(4):000220. Epub 2021 Apr 13.

Laboratório de Termodinâmica de Proteínas e Estruturas Virais Gregorio Weber, Programa de Biologia Estrutural, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 21941-590, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

Vaccines are a recommended strategy for controlling influenza A infections in humans and animals. Here, we describe the effects of hydrostatic pressure on the structure, morphology and functional characteristics of avian influenza A H3N8 virus. The effect of hydrostatic pressure for 3 h on H3N8 virus revealed that the particles were resistant to this condition, and the virus displayed only a discrete conformational change. Read More

J Infect 2021 Jun 17. Epub 2021 Jun 17.

National Avian Influenza Para-Reference Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Guangzhou, China; Key Laboratory of Zoonoses Prevention and Control of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou 510642, China. Electronic address:

Euro Surveill 2021 06;26(24)

State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology "Vector" Rospotrebnadzor, Koltsovo, Novosibirsk Region, Russia.

This study presents the isolation of influenza A(H5N8) virus clade 2.3.4. Read More

J Biol Dyn 2021 Dec;15(1):327-341

Western University, London, Canada.

Outbreaks of highly pathogenic strains of avian influenza (HPAI) cause high mortality in avian populations worldwide. When spread from avian reservoirs to humans, HPAI infections cause mortality in about 50% of human infections. Cases of human-to-human transmission of HPAI are relatively rare, and have, to date, only been reported in situations of close contact. Read More

Virus Evol 2021 Jan 6;7(1):veab046. Epub 2021 May 6.

National Avian Influenza Para-Reference Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.

Multiple recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N8 viruses originating in aquatic birds frequently occurred in most European countries, Russia, South Korea, and Japan during the winter of 2020-21, and one zoonotic event of poultry workers infected with novel H5N8 viruses were reported in Russia. Strikingly, these novel H5N8 viruses had emerged and been co-circulating in wild birds and poultry in multiple provinces of China during 2020-21. In China, the population of aquatic birds has risen significantly in the past twenty years, and China is regarded as the largest reservoir for influenza viruses carried in aquatic birds across the globe. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 Jun 17;11(1):12779. Epub 2021 Jun 17.

Department of Epidemiology, Bioinformatics and Animal Studies, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, P.O. Box 65, 8200 AB, Lelystad, The Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, free-range layer farms as opposed to indoor layer farms, are at greater risk with regard to the introduction of avian influenza viruses (AIVs). Wild waterfowl are the natural reservoir hosts of AIVs, and play a major role in their transmission to poultry by contaminating free-range layer areas. The laser as a wild bird repellent has been in use since the 1970s, in particular around airfields to reduce bird-strike. Read More

Virology 2021 Jun 6;561:28-35. Epub 2021 Jun 6.

Key Laboratory of Animal Epidemiology and Zoonosis, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, 100193, Beijing, China. Electronic address:

Reassortant Eurasian avian-like (EA) H1N1 virus, possessing 2009 pandemic (pdm/09) and triple-reassortant (TR)-derived internal genes, namely G4 genotype, has replaced the G1 genotype EA H1N1 virus (all the genes were of EA origin) and become predominant in swine populations in China. Understanding the pathogenicity of G4 viruses in pigs is of great importance for disease control. Here, we conducted comprehensive analyses of replication and pathogenicity of G4 and G1 EA H1N1 viruses in pigs. Read More

One Health 2021 Dec 31;13:100272. Epub 2021 May 31.

Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany.

Intersectoral collaborations are an integral component of the prevention and control of diseases in a complex health system. On the one hand, One Health (OH) is promoting the establishment of intersectoral collaborations for prevention at the human-animal-environment interface. On the other hand, operationalising OH can only be realized through intersectoral collaborations. Read More

Acta Virol 2021 ;65(2):200-211

 Identification of molecular characteristics of low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) H9N2 virus provides insights into the evolution of this subtype due to the modulation of genomic characteristics in co-circulation with another subtype. The present study aimed to analyze the molecular and phylogenetic characteristics of the current LPAI H9N2 virus in characteristics of internal proteins are crucial for the adaptations of AIVs viruses to a new host. Since H9N2 is indigenous among poultry, continuous monitoring of viral genetic changes is needed for risk assessment of potential transmissibility to human population and emergence of new reassortant virus. Read More

Virus Evol 2020 Jul 13;6(2):veaa046. Epub 2020 Jun 13.

U.S. National Poultry Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 934 College Station Road, Athens, GA 30605, USA.

Asian lineage A/H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIVs) have been responsible for continuous outbreaks in Bangladesh since 2007. Although clades 2.2. Read More

Virulence 2021 Dec;12(1):1647-1660

Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, UVSQ, UMR892 VIM, Jouy-en-Josas, France.

Influenza A viruses cause important diseases in both human and animal. The PB1-F2 protein is a virulence factor expressed by some influenza viruses. Its deleterious action for the infected host is mostly described in mammals, while the available information is scarce in avian hosts. Read More

Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2021 26;11:654813. Epub 2021 May 26.

Regional Laboratory for Avian Influenza and Other Transboundary Animal Diseases, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Nigeria.

COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease with devastating economic and public health impacts globally. Being a novel disease, current research is focused on a clearer understanding of the mechanisms involved in its pathogenesis and viable therapeutic strategies. Oxidative stress and inflammation are intertwined processes that play roles in disease progression and response to therapy interference with multiple signaling pathways. Read More

BMC Vet Res 2021 Jun 12;17(1):218. Epub 2021 Jun 12.

Norwegian Veterinary Institute, Oslo, Norway.

Background: Several outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) caused by influenza A virus of subtype H5N8 have been reported in wild birds and poultry in Europe during autumn 2020. Norway is one of the few countries in Europe that had not previously detected HPAI virus, despite widespread active monitoring of both domestic and wild birds since 2005.

Results: We report detection of HPAI virus subtype H5N8 in a wild pink-footed goose (Anser brachyrhynchus), and several other geese, ducks and a gull, from south-western Norway in November and December 2020. Read More

Microbes Infect 2021 Jun 8:104848. Epub 2021 Jun 8.

The Collaboration Unit for Field Epidemiology of State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal-origin and Vector-borne Diseases, Nanchang Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Nanchang 330038, PR China. Electronic address:

We investigated fluctuations in the detection rates of avian influenza virus (AIV) subtypes H5, H7, and H9 in live bird markets (LBMs) in Nanchang city, Chinese province Jiangxi, before and after the Chinese nationwide AIV vaccination campaign against highly pathogenic (HP) AIV subtype H5 and H7. Samples were tested for nucleic acid of type A avian influenza virus by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction technology. The H5, H7 and H9 subtypes of influenza viruses were further classified for the positive results. Read More

Front Vet Sci 2021 25;8:616755. Epub 2021 May 25.

Department of Anatomy, College of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is considered as one of the most devastating poultry diseases. It is imperative to immediately report any known outbreaks to the World Organization for Animal Health. Early detection of infected birds is of paramount importance to control virus spread, thus minimizing the associated economic loss. Read More

Anal Chim Acta 2021 Aug 17;1171:338645. Epub 2021 May 17.

College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, PR China. Electronic address:

Rapid and low-cost diagnosis of multiple infectious diseases is of great significance especially in densely populated or resource-constrained settings. Herein, we developed a one-step fast and label-free imaging array for multiplexed detection of trace avian influenza virus (AIV) DNA biomarkers. By designing a series of specific and efficient catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) amplification reactions and utilizing thioflavin T, a specific G-quadruplex fluorescence probe, three subtypes of AIV DNA biomarkers (H1N1, H7N9 and H5N1) were simultaneously and quickly detected within only 20 min, which just needed a small reagent volume of 50 μL and a smartphone instead of a spectrometer. Read More

Probiotics Antimicrob Proteins 2021 Jun 10. Epub 2021 Jun 10.

Department of Avian and Rabbit Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, 44511, Egypt.

Methylated soy protein (MSP) which is positively charged with enhanced hydrophobicity may have antiviral action. This study is verifying if MSP can act inhibit H5N1 inside an animal model. Five groups of Hubbard chicks were challenged at the 25th day of the experiment with AIV virus (H5N1; 0. Read More

Influenza Other Respir Viruses 2021 Jun 10. Epub 2021 Jun 10.

Southeast Poultry Research laboratory, United States National Poultry Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Athens, GA, USA.

Wild aquatic birds are natural reservoirs of low-pathogenicity avian influenza viruses (LPAIVs). Laughing gulls inoculated with four gull-origin LPAIVs (H7N3, H6N4, H3N8, and H2N3) had a predominate respiratory infection. By contrast, mallards inoculated with two mallard-origin LPAIVs (H5N6 and H4N8) became infected and had similar virus titers in oropharyngeal (OP) and cloacal (CL) swabs. Read More

Cell Rep 2021 Jun;35(10):109213

State Key Laboratory for Emerging Infectious Diseases, InnoHK Centre for Virology, Vaccinology, and Therapeutics, and Department of Microbiology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. Electronic address:

Host adaptive mutations in the influenza A virus (IAV) PB2 protein are critical for human infection, but their molecular action is not well understood. We observe that when IAV containing avian PB2 infects mammalian cells, viral ribonucleoprotein (vRNP) aggregates that localize to the microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) are formed. These vRNP aggregates resemble LC3B-associated autophagosome structures, with aggresome-like properties, in that they cause the re-distribution of vimentin. Read More

J Microbiol Biotechnol 2021 Jun 1. Epub 2021 Jun 1.

College of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea.

In order to prevent the outbreak of infectious diseases that cause huge losses economically and socially, domestic livestock farms and related facilities have introduced automatic and semiautomatic disinfectant solution spraying system for vehicle. However, the facilities standards and specifications are different for each manufacturer, and there is no scientific performance evaluation. The puropose of this study is to develop physical and biological evaluation methods. Read More

BMC Vet Res 2021 Jun 7;17(1):210. Epub 2021 Jun 7.

Department of Graduate Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL, 36088, USA.

Background: The poultry industry in Egypt has been suffering from endemic highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, subtype H5N1 since 2006. However, the emergence of H9N2, H5N8, and H5N2 in 2011, 2016, and 2019 respectively, has aggravated the situation. Our objective was to evaluate how effective are the mitigation strategies by a Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) model which used daily outbreak data of HPAI-H5N1 subtype in Egypt, stratified by different successive epidemic waves from 2006 to 2016. Read More

Biosens Bioelectron 2021 May 29;190:113369. Epub 2021 May 29.

Molecular Recognition Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul, 02792, South Korea; Department of Chemistry, Hanyang University, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea. Electronic address:

Many conventional optical biosensing systems use a single responsive signal in the visible light region. This limits their practical applications, as the signal can be readily perturbed by various external environmental factors. Herein, a near-infrared (NIR)-based self-calibrating luminescence resonance energy transfer (LRET) system was developed for background-free detection of analytes in homogeneous sandwich-immunoassays. Read More

Int J Biol Macromol 2021 Jun 17;184:339-348. Epub 2021 Jun 17.

Laboratory for Functional Glycomics, College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, China. Electronic address:

Salivary glycoproteins are known as an important barrier to inhibit influenza infection by presenting sialic acid (Sia) ligands that can bind with viral hemagglutination. Here, to further understand why pregnant women are more vulnerable to avian influenza virus (AIV), we investigated the alteration of protein sialylation in the saliva of women during pregnancy and postpartum, and its impact on the saliva binding affinity to AIV. Totally 1200 saliva samples were collected, the expression levels of terminal α2-3/6-linked Sia on salivary proteins were tested and validated, and the binding activities of salivary proteins were assessed against 3 strains of AIV and the H1N1 vaccine. Read More

PLoS Pathog 2021 Jun 7;17(6):e1009619. Epub 2021 Jun 7.

Department of Gastroenterology, Yamanashi Central Hospital, Fujimi, Kofu, Yamanashi, Japan.

We aimed to investigate novel emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) lineages in Japan that harbor variants in the spike protein receptor-binding domain (RBD). The total nucleic acid contents of samples from 159 patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were subjected to whole genome sequencing. The SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences from these patients were examined for variants in spike protein RBD. Read More

Arch Virol 2021 Jun 6. Epub 2021 Jun 6.

Animal Infectious Diseases Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China.

Swine influenza is an economically important respiratory disease in swine, but it also constantly poses a threat to human health. Therefore, developing rapid, sensitive, and efficient detection methods for swine influenza virus (SIV) is important. By aligning the haemagglutinin (HA) gene sequences of SIVs circulating in China over a 10-year period, an H1 primer-probe set targeting both Eurasian avian-like H1N1 (EA H1N1) and pandemic 2009 H1N1 ((H1N1)pdm09) lineages plus a H3 primer-probe set targeting the prevalent human-like H3N2 (HL H3N2) subtype were designed. Read More

Stem Cell Res 2021 May 11;53:102385. Epub 2021 May 11.

Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; Laboratory for Marmoset Neural Architecture, RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Saitama, Japan. Electronic address:

The domestic ferret (ferret; Mustela putorius furo) is an important animal model for neuroscience and preclinical/veterinary medicine owing to its highly developed cerebral cortex and susceptibility to avian influenza and corona viruses. Nevertheless, there is a lack of in vitro ferret models, since immortal cell lines including induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) of ferrets have been scarce. In this study, we established an iPSC line from ferret skin fibroblasts. Read More

Vet World 2021 Apr 20;14(4):949-955. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Animal Hygiene and Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, 41522, Egypt.

Background And Aim: LPAI H9N2 infection among the poultry population in Egypt constitutes an additional risk factor in the poultry industry. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of H9N2 avian influenza virus (AIV) in commercial and backyard chickens in Egypt. A 2-year survey of H9N2 AIV in chickens in farms and backyards was carried out in 2015 and 2016. Read More