Bo Hong, Zhang Ye, Dong Jie, Li Xiyan, Zhao Xiang, Wei Hejiang, Li Zi, Wang Dayan
National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Disease, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Health Commission, Beijing, 102206, China.
Key Laboratory for Biosafety, National Health Commission, Beijing, 102206, China.
Infect Dis Poverty. 2025 May 9;14(1):36. doi: 10.1186/s40249-025-01304-w.
The prevalence and transmission of avian influenza viruses (AIVs) in the live poultry market (LPM) is a serious public health concern. This study was to investigate the prevalence of different subtypes of avian influenza viruses in environment of LPM, and to analyze the differences and seasonality of the nucleic acid positive rate (NAPR) of A type, H5, H7, and H9 subtypes in feces, sewage, drinking water, breeding cages, and chopping boards.
Feces, breeding cages swabs, drinking water, sewage and chopping boards swabs were collected from live poultry market during 2019-2023 from southern and northern China. Real-time PCR was used to screen for virus subtypes. Viruses were isolated, and deep sequencing was performed to obtain whole-genome sequences. Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis of categorical variable, GraphPad Prism software were used to construct graphs.
A total of 64,599 environmental samples were collected from live poultry markets in the southern China and northern China between 2019 and 2023. The average NAPR of the A type was significantly higher in the samples collected from the southern China than in those collected from the northern China (P < 0.05). The NAPR of H5, H7, and H9 subtypes carried by the five types of environmental samples in the southern China were significantly different (P < 0.05), and a higher NAPR was detected in chopping boards (10.84%), breeding cages (0.28%), and drinking water (40.97%) respectively. The average NAPR of the H9 and H5 subtypes displayed seasonality, reaching a peak in January and February in the southern China, while the peak of the H9 subtype was from October to February in the northern China. A total of 19 subtypes were identified. The H5 subtype significantly decreased, the H7 subtype was almost undetectable, and other subtypes, such as the H3 subtype, increased.
The highly pathogenic H5 subtype has significantly decreased in the live poultry market in China since 2022. However, the proportion of some subtypes, such as the H3 subtype, with low pathogenicity to poultry, has increased, while the H9 subtype remains at a high level. It must be noted that these low pathogenic avian influenza viruses often have no obvious symptoms, can circulate asymptomatically in infected poultry, and are highly pathogenic to humans. Our findings provide insights into the control and prevention of avian influenza viruses and the risk of pandemics associated with avian influenza viruses in the live poultry market.
禽流感病毒（AIVs）在活禽市场（LPM）中的流行和传播是一个严重的公共卫生问题。本研究旨在调查活禽市场环境中不同亚型禽流感病毒的流行情况，并分析粪便、污水、饮用水、养殖笼和砧板中A型、H5、H7和H9亚型核酸阳性率（NAPR）的差异及季节性。
于2019年至2023年期间从中国南方和北方的活禽市场收集粪便、养殖笼拭子、饮用水、污水和砧板拭子。采用实时荧光定量PCR筛选病毒亚型。分离病毒并进行深度测序以获得全基因组序列。采用卡方检验对分类变量进行统计分析，使用GraphPad Prism软件绘制图表。
2019年至2023年期间，共从中国南方和北方的活禽市场收集了64,599份环境样本。中国南方采集的样本中A型的平均核酸阳性率显著高于北方采集的样本（P < 0.05）。中国南方五类环境样本携带的H5、H7和H9亚型的核酸阳性率存在显著差异（P < 0.05），砧板（10.84%）、养殖笼（0.28%）和饮用水（40.97%）中的核酸阳性率较高。H9和H5亚型的平均核酸阳性率呈现季节性，中国南方1月和2月达到峰值，而中国北方H9亚型的峰值为10月至2月。共鉴定出19个亚型。H5亚型显著下降，H7亚型几乎检测不到，其他亚型如H3亚型增加。
自2022年以来，中国活禽市场高致病性H5亚型显著下降。然而，一些对家禽致病性较低的亚型如H3亚型的比例有所增加，而H9亚型仍处于较高水平。必须注意的是，这些低致病性禽流感病毒通常没有明显症状，可在感染家禽中无症状循环，且对人类具有高致病性。我们的研究结果为活禽市场禽流感病毒的防控以及与禽流感病毒相关的大流行风险提供了见解。
