Avian influenza and poultry workers, Peru, 2006

Abstract

Background Currently numerous countries in Asia, Africa and Europe are encountering highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) infections in poultry and humans. In the Americas, home of the world’s largest poultry exporters, contingency plans are being developed and evaluated in preparation for the arrival of these viral strains. Objectives With this cross‐sectional study, to our knowledge the first in its kind in Central or South America, we sought to learn whether Peruvian poultry workers had evidence of previous AI infection and if so, to determine the risk factors for infection. Methods We performed a cross‐sectional seroprevalence study among 149 workers on a Peruvian poultry farm (132 exposed to poultry and 17 non‐exposed controls), serum samples were tested for human influenza virus exposure using a hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay. Microneutralization assays were performed on all serum samples to detect antibodies against prototypic AI strains H4 through H12. Results Using multivariate proportional odds modeling we found that the prevalence of elevated titers against AI viruses was low in both groups, exposed and non‐exposed controls. Conclusions No evidence of previous AI infection among Peruvian poultry workers was found in this first cross‐sectional study performed in South America. This first occupational study of AI in Latin America was encouraging, but it likely reflects the sector of poultry production with higher biosecurity.

Evidence of H1 and H3 Influenza Virus Infection in Captive Birds in Tehran from November 2008 to February 2009

“…Although the results could be attributed at least partially to the presence of an undetectable amount of genomic RNA, based upon the sensitivity of the test, our findings demonstrated that no RNA genome of influenza A viruses was present in the samples under study. Despite H1 and H3 are most currently subtypes in human population and there is limited information on the prevalence of these two subtypes among birds, but some previous studies have been reported presence of antibodies to H1N1 and H3N2 viruses in wild and domestic birds in Brazil (16). Our study showed a high seropositivity of 57.7% against H1 subtype and also 88.75% against H3 subtype.…”

Avian-to-Human Receptor-Binding Adaptation by Influenza A Virus Hemagglutinin H4

“…including H4 viruses (Kayali et al, 2010(Kayali et al, , 2011Ortiz et al, 2007). Therefore, attention should be paid to the potential threats to humans posed by H4 LPAIVs.…”

“…Importantly, two H4N6 LPIAV strains isolated from pigs in Canada in 1999 possess Q226L and G228S substitutions in their HA sequences, implying the adaptation for human receptor preference (Bateman et al, 2008;Karasin et al, 2000). In addition, seroepidemiological studies reveal that poultry-exposed populations, including poultry farmers, workers, and veterinarians, are at a greater risk of infection with zoonotic IAVs, including H4 viruses (Kayali et al, 2010(Kayali et al, , 2011Ortiz et al, 2007). These results clearly implicate the potential threat posed by H4 viruses to public health.…”

A national study of individuals who handle migratory birds for evidence of avian and swine-origin influenza virus infections

“…Antibody responses to AIV strains were detected by use of a microneutralization (MN) assay 5–8 (Table 1). We screened H5N2, H7N2, and H9N2 in 2008, H5N2 and H7N3 in 2009, and H5N2, H7N2, and pH1N1 in 2010 to test for avian and swine influenza co-infection.…”