National Institute of Animal Health (NIAH)

Topics in Animal Health Research 2005

09. Isolation of a genotypically unique H5N1 influenza virus from duck meat imported into Japan from China

Japanese

  An H5N1 influenza A virus was isolated from duck meat processed for human consumption that was imported to Japan from Shandong Province, China, in 2003. This virus was antigenically different from other H5 viruses, including the Hong Kong H5N1 viruses isolated from humans in 1997 and 2003. Sequence analysis revealed that six genes (PB1, PA, HA, NA, M, and NS) of this virus showed (a > 97%) nucleotide identity with their counterparts from recent H5N1 viruses, but that the remaining two genes (PB2 and NP) were derived from other unknown viruses. This duck meat isolate was highly pathogenic to chickens upon intravenous or intranasal inoculation, replicated well in the lungs of mice and spread to the brain, but was not as pathogenic in mice as H5N1 human isolates (with a dose lethal to 50% of mice [MLD50] = 5 ×106 50% egg infectious doses [EID50])].  However, viruses isolated from the brains of mice previously infected with the virus were substantially more pathogenic (MLD50= ∼ 102 EID50) and possessed some amino acid substitutions relative to the original virus. These results show that poultry products contaminated with influenza viruses of high pathogenic potential to mammals are a threat to public health, even in countries where the virus is not enzootic, and represent a possible source of influenza outbreaks in poultry.
(Research Team for Zoonotic Diseases, TEL +81-29-838-7764)

References:

  • Mase et al. (2005) Virology. 339:101-9.
  • Mase et al. (2005) Avian Dis. 49:582-4.

Centers・Institutes