%0 Journal Article %J Epidemiol Infect %D 2015 %T Extended transmission of two H5/H7 low pathogenic avian influenza viruses in chickens. %A Claes, G %A Bénédicte Lambrecht %A Dewulf, J %A Thierry van den Berg %A Sylvie Marché %K Animals %K Chickens %K Influenza A Virus, H5N2 Subtype %K Influenza A Virus, H7N1 Subtype %K Influenza in Birds %K Virus Shedding %X

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.

%B Epidemiol Infect %V 143 %P 781-90 %8 2015 Mar %G eng %N 4 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24924291?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1017/S0950268814001307