Advances in Virology
Volume 2009 (2009), Article ID 294520, 7 pages
doi:10.1155/2009/294520
Research Article

Isolation of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 Virus from Saker Falcons (Falco cherrug) in the Middle East

Henju Marjuki,1 Ulrich Wernery,2 Hui-Ling Yen,1 John Franks,1 Patrick Seiler,1 David Walker,1 Scott Krauss,1 and Robert G. Webster1,3

1Division of Virology, Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
2Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 597, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
3Department of Pathology, University of Tennessee, Memphis, TN 38105, USA

Received 16 June 2008; Accepted 10 October 2008

Academic Editor: Amiya K. Banerjee

Copyright © 2009 Henju Marjuki et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Linked References

  1. R. J. Manvell, P. McKinney, U. Wernery, and K. Frost, “Isolation of a highly pathogenic influenza A virus of subtype H7N3 from a peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus),” Avian Pathology, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 635–637, 2000. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  2. S. Magnino, M. Fabbi, A. Moreno, et al., “Avian influenza virus (H7 serotype) in a saker falcon in Italy,” Veterinary Record, vol. 146, no. 25, p. 740, 2000.
  3. Avian Influenza, Falcon - China (Hong Kong), archive number: 20040127.0314, January 2004, http://www.promedmail.org/.
  4. The New York Times, “Dead falcon in Hong Kong found to be infected with bird flu,” January 2004, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06E6D61339F931A15752C0A9629C8B63&scp=2&sq=falcon+H5N1&st=nyt.
  5. China Daily, “Falcon dies of H5N1 bird flu in HK,” March 2006, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-03/27/content_552831.htm.
  6. Hong Kong's Information Services Department, “Peregrine Falcon tests positive for H5N1 virus,” March 2008, http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200803/14/P200803140213.htm.
  7. S. Van Borm, I. Thomas, G. Hanquet, et al., “Highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus in smuggled Thai eagles, Belgium,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 702–705, 2005.
  8. Reuters, “Kuwait finds H5N1 bird flu in chicken, falcon,” March 2007, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL0215205220070302.
  9. Avian influenza - Eurasia (37): Saudi Arabia, falcon. Promed, archive number: 20060130.0299, January 2006, http://www.promedmail.org/.
  10. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, “Peregrine Falcon,” May 2008, http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Peregrine_Falcon.html.
  11. C. M. White, N. J. Clum, T. J. Cade, and W. G. Hunt, “Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus),” in The Birds of North America No. 660, A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds., The Birds of North America, Philadelphia, Pa, USA, 2002.
  12. A. C. M. Boon, M. R. Sandbulte, P. Seiler, et al., “Role of terrestrial wild birds in ecology of influenza A virus (H5N1),” Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 13, no. 11, pp. 1720–1724, 2007.
  13. L. J. Reed and H. Muench, “A simple method for estimating fifty percent endpoints,” American Journal of Hygiene, vol. 27, pp. 493–497, 1938.
  14. E. Hoffmann, J. Stech, Y. Guan, R. G. Webster, and D. R. Perez, “Universal primer set for the full-length amplification of all influenza A viruses,” Archives of Virology, vol. 146, no. 12, pp. 2275–2289, 2001. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  15. C. Macken, H. Lu, J. Goodman, and L. Boykin, “The value of a database in surveillance and vaccine selection,” in Options for the Control of Influenza IV, A. D. M. E. Osterhaus, N. Cox, and A. W. Hampson, Eds., pp. 103–106, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2001.
  16. D. J. Hulse-Post, K. M. Sturm-Ramirez, J. Humberd, et al., “Role of domestic ducks in the propagation and biological evolution of highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza viruses in Asia,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 102, no. 30, pp. 10682–10687, 2005. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  17. D. Palmer, M. Coleman, W. Dowdle, and G. Schild, “Advanced laboratory techniques for influenza diagnosis,” US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Atlanta, Ga, USA, 1975.
  18. E. C. J. Claas, A. D. M. E. Osterhaus, R. van Beek, et al., “Human influenza A H5N1 virus related to a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus,” The Lancet, vol. 351, no. 9101, pp. 472–477, 1998. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  19. T. Horimoto and Y. Kawaoka, “Reverse genetics provides direct evidence for a correlation of hemagglutinin cleavability and virulence of an avian influenza A virus,” Journal of Virology, vol. 68, no. 5, pp. 3120–3128, 1994.
  20. H. Hatta, P. Gao, P. Halfmann, and Y. Kawaoka, “Molecular basis for high virulence of Hong Kong H5N1 influenza a viruses,” Science, vol. 293, no. 5536, pp. 1840–1842, 2001. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  21. K. Shinya, S. Hamm, M. Hatta, H. Ito, T. Ito, and Y. Kawaoka, “PB2 amino acid at position 627 affects replicative efficiency, but not cell tropism, of Hong Kong H5N1 influenza A viruses in mice,” Virology, vol. 320, no. 2, pp. 258–266, 2004. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  22. R. A. M. Fouchier, P. M. Schneeberger, F. W. Rozendaal, et al., “Avian influenza A virus (H7N7) associated with human conjunctivitis and a fatal case of acute respiratory distress syndrome,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 101, no. 5, pp. 1356–1361, 2004. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  23. A. J. Hay, A. J. Wolstenholme, J. J. Skehel, and M. H. Smith, “The molecular basis of the specific anti-influenza action of amantadine,” The EMBO Journal, vol. 4, no. 11, pp. 3021–3024, 1985.
  24. L. H. Pinto, L. J. Holsinger, and R. A. Lamb, “Influenza virus M2 protein has ion channel activity,” Cell, vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 517–528, 1992. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar
  25. L. V. Gubareva, “Molecular mechanisms of influenza virus resistance to neuraminidase inhibitors,” Virus Research, vol. 103, no. 1-2, pp. 199–203, 2004. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  26. R. G. Webster and E. A. Govorkova, “H5N1 influenza—continuing evolution and spread,” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 355, no. 21, pp. 2174–2177, 2006. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  27. The Union for the Conservation of Raptors, Another peregrine falcon infected with H5N1 avian flu, March 2006, http://www.savethefalcons.org/another_falcon_with_avian_flu.asp.
  28. Gulf News, “Falcons placed in quarantine to reduce risk,” February 2006, http://archive.gulfnews.com/indepth/bird_flu/index.html.
  29. Arab News, Falcon expert warns of H5N1 threat, January 2008, http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=105465&d=9&m=1&y=2008&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom.
  30. K. F. Shortridge, N. N. Zhou, Y. Guan, et al., “Characterization of avian H5N1 influenza viruses from poultry in Hong Kong,” Virology, vol. 252, no. 2, pp. 331–342, 1998. View at Publisher · View at Google Scholar · View at PubMed
  31. M. Lierz, H. M. Hafez, R. Klopfleisch, et al., “Protection and virus shedding of falcons vaccinated against highly pathogenic avian influenza A virus (H5N1),” Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 13, no. 11, pp. 1667–1674, 2007.