Surveillance of wild bird populations for avian influenza viruses (AIV) contributes to our understanding of AIV evolution and ecology. Both real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RRT-PCR) and virus isolation in embryonating chicken eggs (ECE) are standard methods for detecting AIV in swab samples from wild birds, but AIV detection rates are higher with RRT-PCR than isolation in ECE. In this study we tested duck embryos, turkey embryos, and multiple cell lines for AIV growth as compared to ECE for improved isolation and propagation of AIV for isolates representing all 16 hemagglutinin subtypes. There were no differences in low pathogenicity AIV (LPAIV) propagation titers in duck or turkey embryos compared to ECE. The replication efficiency of LPAIV was lower in each of the cell lines tested compared to ECE. LPAIV titers were 1-3 log mean tissue-culture infective doses (TCID50) lower in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK), primary chicken embryo kidney (CEK), and primary chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cell cultures, and 3-5 log TCID50 lower in chicken bone marrow macrophage (HD11), chicken fibroblast (DF-1), and mink lung epithelial (Mv1Lu) cells than the corresponding mean embryo infective doses (EID50) in ECE. The quail fibroblast (QT-35) and baby hamster kidney (BHK-21) cell lines produced titers 5-7 log TCID50 less than EID50 in ECE. Overall, ECEs were the most efficient system for growth of LPAIV. However, the savings in time and resources incurred with the use of the MDCK, CEK, and CEF cultures would allow a higher volume of samples to be processed with the same fiscal and financial resources, thus being potentially advantageous despite the lower replication efficiency and lower isolation rates.

Virus isolation rates for influenza A virus (FLUAV) and Avian paramyxovirus serotype 1 (APMV-1) from wild bird surveillance samples are lower than molecular detection rates for the specific viral genomes. The current study was conducted to examine the possibility of increased virus isolation rates from real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) using alternative virus isolation substrates such as embryonating duck eggs (EDEs), embryonating turkey eggs (ETEs), Madin–Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell cultures, and African green monkey kidney (Vero) cell cultures. Rectal swabs of birds in the orders Anseriformes and Charadriiformes were tested by real-time RT-PCR for the presence of FLUAV and APMV-1 genomes, and virus isolation (VI) was attempted on all real-time RT-PCR–positive samples. Samples with threshold cycle (Ct) ≤37 had VI rates for FLUAV of 62.5%, 50%, 43.8%, 31.5%, and 31.5% in embryonating chicken eggs (ECEs), ETEs, EDEs, MDCK cells, and Vero cells, respectively. A higher isolation rate was seen with ECEs compared to either cell culture method, but similar isolation rates were identified between the different embryonating avian eggs. Virus isolation rates for APMV-1 on samples with real-time RT-PCR Ct ≤37 were 75%, 100%, 100%, 0%, and 37.5% in ECEs, ETEs, EDEs, MDCK cells, and Vero cells, respectively. Significantly higher VI rates were seen with ECEs as compared to either cell culture method for all real-time RT-PCR–positive samples. Because of the limited availability and high cost of ETEs and EDEs, the data support the continuing usage of ECEs for primary isolation of both FLUAV and APMV-1 from real-time RT-PCR–positive wild bird surveillance samples.

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