The ecology of influenza. Isolation of type 'A' influenza viruses from Australian pelagic birds.

Three different type A influenza viruses have been isolated from pelagic birds nesting on islands of the Great Barrier Reef. One of these, isolated in 1972, was of subtype Hav6Nav5. The other two, which are described in this paper, were isolated in 1975 and belonged to subtypes Hav5Nav2 and Hav3Nav6. Of eight isolates of the latter virus, seven were recovered from cloacal swabs and only one from the trachea.