TY - JOUR T1 - Extended transmission of two H5/H7 low pathogenic avian influenza viruses in chickens. JF - Epidemiol Infect Y1 - 2015 A1 - Claes, G A1 - Bénédicte Lambrecht A1 - Dewulf, J A1 - Thierry van den Berg A1 - Sylvie Marché KW - Animals KW - Chickens KW - Influenza A Virus, H5N2 Subtype KW - Influenza A Virus, H7N1 Subtype KW - Influenza in Birds KW - Virus Shedding AB -

Transmission experiments are useful for investigating the mechanisms of low pathogenic notifiable avian influenza virus (LPNAI) transmission. In this study, the hypothesis that inoculation-infected chickens are more infectious than contact-infected chickens was tested. To this end, extended transmission experiments with one H5N2 and one H7N1 LPAIV which had previously been characterized in a series of standard transmission experiments were conducted in specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens. For the H5N2 LPAIV, the infectivity of contact-infected chickens was similar to the infectivity of inoculated chickens. Despite results from a previous study suggesting the H7N1 LPAIV strain to be similarly infectious to SPF chickens as the H5N2 LPAIV strain, the acquisition of contact-infected chickens proved more difficult for H7N1 LPAIV. It was assumed that this might have been a consequence of the length and timing of the exposure period. In conclusion, for LPNAIVs that first seemed equally infectious, short-term transmissibility may vary considerably.

VL - 143 CP - 4 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24924291?dopt=Abstract M3 - 10.1017/S0950268814001307 ER -