Elgendy Emad Mohamed, Watanabe Yohei, Daidoji Tomo, Arai Yasuha, Ikuta Kazuyoshi, Ibrahim Madiha Salah, Nakaya Takaaki
Department of Infectious Diseases, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, 465 Kawaramachi-hirokoji Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto, 602-8566, Japan.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhur University, Damanhur, Egypt.
Virus Genes. 2016 Dec;52(6):867-871. doi: 10.1007/s11262-016-1369-z. Epub 2016 Jul 1.
Avian influenza viruses impose serious public health burdens with significant mortality and morbidity not only in poultry but also in humans. While poultry susceptibility to avian influenza virus infection is well characterized, pigeons have been thought to have low susceptibility to these viruses. However, recent studies reported natural pigeon infections with highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 viruses. In Egypt, which is one of the H5N1 endemic areas for birds, pigeons are raised in towers built on farms in backyards and on house roofs, providing a potential risk for virus transmission from pigeons to humans. In this study, we performed genetic analysis of two H5N1 virus strains that were isolated from naturally infected pigeons in Egypt. Genetic and phylogenetic analyses showed that these viruses originated from Egyptian H5N1 viruses that were circulating in chickens or ducks. Several unique mutations, not reported before in any Egyptian isolates, were detected in the internal genes (i.e., polymerase residues PB1-V3D, PB1-K363R, PA-A369V, and PA-V602I; nucleoprotein residue NP-R38K; and nonstructural protein residues NS1-D120N and NS2-F55C). Our findings suggested that pigeons are naturally infected with H5N1 virus and can be a potential reservoir for transmission to humans, and showed the importance of genetic analysis of H5N1 internal genes.
禽流感病毒不仅给家禽，也给人类带来了严重的公共卫生负担，导致大量死亡和发病。虽然家禽对禽流感病毒感染的易感性已得到充分了解，但人们一直认为鸽子对这些病毒的易感性较低。然而，最近的研究报告了鸽子自然感染高致病性H5N1禽流感病毒的情况。在鸟类H5N1地方流行区之一的埃及，鸽子饲养在农场后院和房屋屋顶上搭建的鸽舍中，这为病毒从鸽子传播给人类提供了潜在风险。在本研究中，我们对从埃及自然感染的鸽子中分离出的两株H5N1病毒进行了基因分析。遗传和系统发育分析表明，这些病毒源自埃及在鸡或鸭中传播的H5N1病毒。在内部基因中检测到了几个以前在任何埃及分离株中都未报告过的独特突变（即聚合酶残基PB1-V3D、PB1-K363R、PA-A369V和PA-V602I；核蛋白残基NP-R38K；以及非结构蛋白残基NS1-D120N和NS2-F-55C）。我们的研究结果表明，鸽子自然感染H5N1病毒，可能是病毒传播给人类的潜在宿主，并显示了对H5N1内部基因进行遗传分析重要性。
