influenza monitoring among birds in Kostanaiskaya Oblast, Republic of Kazakhstan

Abstract

Epizootological monitoring of avian influenza (AI) occurrence in Kostanaiskaya oblast of Kazakhstan was conducted. The staff of the laboratories of the Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems carried out the research in virus isolation from the materials sampled from wild and domestic birds in Kostanaiskaya oblast with use of double blind passage in chicken embryos (CE), hemagglutination test, polymerase chain reaction and electron microscopy. The laboratory studies resulted in detection of an AI virus antigen H5N1 in samples from gulls, starlings and from a mallard.

Analysis of the efficacy of an adjuvant-based inactivated pandemic H5N1 influenza virus vaccine

“…Mouse and ferret models are widely used for studies of the pathogenicity of avian influenza viruses in mammals, and their use can usually help to predict the pandemic potential of such viruses and aid in the design of advanced methods for prevention and potential treatment of pandemic influenza virus H5N1 infections [16,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. We examined the protective effect and safety of Kazfluvac ® containing different amounts of antigen in ferrets and mice.…”

“…The protection provided by influenza vaccines is based on the induction of virus-neutralizing antibodies, mainly against the surface hemagglutinin protein [20,31]. Previous studies have indicated that adjuvant-based vaccines possess a higher level of immunogenicity than non-adjuvant-based ones [34][35][36][37][38]. The adjuvant used in Kazfluvac ® is aluminum hydroxide.…”

“…The HA of this virus contains a motif of repetitive basic amino acids in the cleavage site of HA, which determines its high virulence in humans. Ferrets and a group of mice receiving a vaccine preparation containing 5.0 and 10.0 µg of HA per dose were protected against challenge with the homologous influenza virus, A/chicken/ Astana/6/05 (H5N1), as indicated by the absence of clinical signs of disease and weight loss [5,35]. Human-equivalent doses did not cause any clinical signs or loss of body weight in ferrets.…”