Sack Alexandra, Daramragchaa Ulziimaa, Chuluunbaatar Maitsetseg, Gonchigoo Battsetseg, Bazartseren Boldbaatar, Tsogbadrakh Nyamdorj, Gray Gregory C
Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Mongolian University of Life Sciences, Ulaanbaatar 17024, Mongolia.
Division of Infectious Diseases, and Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
Pathogens. 2017 Nov 30;6(4):61. doi: 10.3390/pathogens6040061.
Horses are critically important for Mongolian herders' livelihoods, providing transportation and food products, and playing important cultural roles. Equine influenza virus (EIV) epizootics have been frequent among Mongolia's horses, with five occurring since 1970. We sought to estimate the prevalence for EIV infection among horses and Bactrian camels with influenza-like illness between national epizootics. In 2016-2017, active surveillance for EIV was periodically performed in four aimags (provinces). Nasal swabs were collected from 680 horses and 131 camels. Seven of the horse swabs were "positive" for qRT-PCR evidence of influenza A (Ct value ≤ 38). Two more were "suspect positive" (Ct value > 38 and ≤ 40). These nine specimens were collected from four aimags. None of the camel specimens had molecular evidence of infection. Despite serial blind passage in Madin-Darby Canine Kidney cells (MDCK) cells, none of the nine horse specimens yielded an influenza A virus. None of the 131 herder households surveyed had recently vaccinated their horses against EIV. It seems likely that sporadic EIV is enzootic in multiple Mongolian aimags. This finding, the infrequent use of EIV vaccination, periodic prevalence of highly pathogenic avian influenza, and the mixing of domestic and wild equid herds suggest that Mongolia may be a hot spot for novel EIV emergence.
马对蒙古牧民的生计至关重要，提供运输和食品，并发挥着重要的文化作用。马流感病毒（EIV） epizootics在蒙古的马群中频繁发生，自1970年以来已发生五次。我们试图估计在全国 epizootics之间，患有流感样疾病的马和双峰驼中EIV感染的患病率。在2016 - 2017年期间，在四个省定期开展了对EIV的主动监测。从680匹马和131头骆驼中采集了鼻拭子。7份马的拭子经qRT-PCR检测呈甲型流感“阳性”（Ct值≤38）。另有2份为“疑似阳性”（Ct值> 38且≤40）。这9份标本来自四个省。骆驼标本均无感染的分子证据。尽管在Madin-Darby犬肾细胞（MDCK）中进行了连续盲传，但9份马标本均未分离出甲型流感病毒。在接受调查的131个牧民家庭中，近期均未给马接种EIV疫苗。似乎散发性EIV在多个蒙古省份呈地方流行。这一发现、EIV疫苗使用频率低、高致病性禽流感的周期性流行以及家养和野生马科动物群的混合表明，蒙古可能是新型EIV出现的热点地区。
