Continuous reassortments with local chicken H9N2 virus underlie the human-infecting influenza A (H7N9) virus in the new influenza season, Guangdong, China.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Qi W
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4225483 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:H9N2 Avian influenza virus (AIV) is regarded as a principal donor of viral genes through reassortment to co-circulating influenza viruses that can result in zoonotic reassortants. Whether H9N2 virus can maintain sustained evolutionary impact on such reassortants is unclear. Since 2013, avian H7N9 virus had caused five sequential human epidemics in China; the fifth wave in 2016-2017 was by far the largest but the mechanistic explanation behind the scale of infection is not clear. Here, we found that, just prior to the fifth H7N9 virus epidemic, H9N2 viruses had phylogenetically mutated into new sub-clades, changed antigenicity and increased its prevalence in chickens vaccinated with existing H9N2 vaccines. In turn, the new H9N2 virus sub-clades of PB2 and PA genes, housing mammalian adaptive mutations, were reassorted into co-circulating H7N9 virus to create a novel dominant H7N9 virus genotype that was responsible for the fifth H7N9 virus epidemic. H9N2-derived PB2 and PA genes in H7N9 virus conferred enhanced polymerase activity in human cells at 33°C and 37°C, and increased viral replication in the upper and lower respiratory tracts of infected mice which could account for the sharp increase in human cases of H7N9 virus infection in the 2016-2017 epidemic. The role of H9N2 virus in the continual mutation of H7N9 virus highlights the public health significance of H9N2 virus in the generation of variant reassortants of increasing zoonotic potential.IMPORTANCEAvian H9N2 influenza virus, although primarily restricted to chicken populations, is a major threat to human public health by acting as a donor of variant viral genes through reassortment to co-circulating influenza viruses. We established that the high prevalence of evolving H9N2 virus in vaccinated flocks played a key role, as donor of new sub-clade PB2 and PA genes in the generation of a dominant H7N9 virus genotype (G72) with enhanced infectivity in humans during the 2016-2017 N7N9 virus epidemic. Our findings emphasize that the ongoing evolution of prevalent H9N2 virus in chickens is an important source, via reassortment, of mammalian adaptive genes for other influenza virus subtypes. Thus, close monitoring of prevalence and variants of H9N2 virus in chicken flocks is necessary in the detection of zoonotic mutations.
| S-EPMC8139711 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Human infections by the newly reassorted avian influenza A (H7N9) virus were reported for the first time in early 2013, and the virus was confirmed to be a low pathogenic avian influenza virus in poultry. Because continuously reported cases have been increasing since the summer of 2013, this novel virus poses a potential threat to public health in China and is attracting broad attention worldwide. In this review, we summarize and discuss the characteristics of the H7N9 virus revealed by the recent timely studies from the perspectives of epidemiology, host preference, clinical manifestations, immunopathogenesis, drug resistance, vaccine development, and burden of disease. This knowledge about the novel avian-origin H7N9 virus will provide a useful reference for clinical interventions of human infections and help to rapidly pave the way to develop an efficient and safe vaccine.
| S-EPMC7102866 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Since its first identification, the epizootic avian influenza A H7N9 virus has continued to cause infections in China. Two waves were observed during this outbreak. No cases were reported from Guangdong Province during the first wave, but this province became one of the prime outbreak sites during the second wave. In order to identify the transmission potential of this continuously evolving infectious virus, our research group monitored all clusters of H7N9 infections during the second wave of the epidemic in Guangdong Province. Epidemiological, clinical, and virological data on these patients were collected and analyzed. Three family clusters including six cases of H7N9 infection were recorded. The virus caused severe disease in two adult patients but only mild symptoms for all four pediatric patients. All patients reported direct poultry or poultry market exposure history. Relevant environment samples collected according to their reported exposures tested H7N9 positive. Virus isolates from patients in the same cluster shared high sequence similarities. In conclusion, although continually evolving, the currently circulating H7N9 viruses in Guangdong Province have not yet demonstrated the capacity for efficient and sustained person-to-person transmission.
| S-EPMC4290927 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Since March 2013, three waves of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus have been detected in China. To investigate virus transmission within and across epidemic waves, we used surveillance data and whole-genome analysis of viruses sampled in Guangdong during 2013-2015. We observed a geographic shift of human A(H7N9) infections from the second to the third waves. Live poultry market interventions were undertaken in epicenter cities; however, spatial phylogenetic analysis indicated that the third-wave outbreaks in central Guangdong most likely resulted from local virus persistence rather than introduction from elsewhere. Although the number of clinical cases in humans declined by 35% from the second to the third waves, the genetic diversity of third-wave viruses in Guangdong increased. Our results highlight the epidemic risk to a region reporting comparatively few A(H7N9) cases. Moreover, our results suggest that live-poultry market interventions cannot completely halt A(H7N9) virus persistence and dissemination.
| S-EPMC5189139 | biostudies-literature
Project description:On 30 March 2013, a novel avian influenza A H7N9 virus causing severe human respiratory infections was identified in China. Preliminary sequence analyses have shown that the virus is a reassortant of H7N9 and H9N2 avian influenza viruses. In this study, we conducted enhanced surveillance for H7N9 virus in Guangdong, China, from April to August 2013. We isolated two H7N9 viral strains from environmental samples associated with poultry markets and one from a clinical patient. Sequence analyses showed that the Guangdong H7N9 virus isolated from April to May shared high sequence similarity with other strains from eastern China. The A/Guangdong/1/2013 (H7N9) virus isolated from the Guangdong patient on 10 August 2013 was divergent from previously sequenced H7N9 viruses and more closely related to local circulating H9N2 viruses in the NS and NP genes. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that four internal genes of the A/Guangdong/1/2013 (H7N9) virus-the NS, NP, PB1, and PB2 genes-were in clusters different from those for H7N9 viruses identified previously in other provinces of China. The discovery presented here suggests that continuing reassortment led to the emergence of the A/Guangdong/1/2013 (H7N9) virus as a novel H7N9 virus in Guangdong, China, and that viral adaptation to avian and human hosts must be assessed.In this study, we isolated and characterized the avian influenza A H7N9 virus in Guangdong, China, from April to August 2013. We show that the viruses isolated from Guangdong environmental samples and chickens from April to May 2013 were highly similar to other H7N9 strains found in eastern China. The H7N9 virus isolated from the clinical patient in Guangdong in August 2013 was divergent from previously identified H7N9 viruses, with the NS and NP genes originating from recent H9N2 viruses circulating in the province. This study provides direct evidence that continuing reassortment occurred and led to the emergence of a novel H7N9 influenza virus in Guangdong, China. These results also shed light on how the H7N9 virus evolved, which is critically important for future monitoring and tracing of viral transmission.
| S-EPMC4135935 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Fourteen influenza A(H7N9) viruses were isolated from poultry or the environment in live poultry markets in Guangdong Province, China during 2014-2015. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all viruses were descended from viruses of the second wave of influenza A(H7N9) virus infections during 2013. These viruses can be divided into 2 branches.
| S-EPMC4550157 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC8200863 | biostudies-literature
Project description:H9N2 avian influenza virus is one of the most widely circulating viruses in poultry and poses a huge potential threat to human health due to its frequent gene reassortment with other influenza viruses. In this study, we generated a series of H9N2-H7N9 reassortant viruses and examined their pathogenicity in a mouse model. We found that HA or combined HA and NA replacement on the H9N2 background led to no substantial change in the virus-induced pathogenicity, whereas H9N2 virus containing H7N9 internal genes had significantly higher virulence in comparison to the parental H9N2 virus. This increased pathogenicity is associated with enhanced viral replication both in mice and in MDCK cells. We further demonstrated that the viral ribonucleoprotein complex from H7N9 virus possessed higher activity than that from its H9N2 counterpart. Collectively, our data demonstrated that genetic compatibility between H9N2 and H7N9 viruses facilitated the reassortment between H7N9 and H9N2 viruses co-circulated in poultry and that internal gene replacement would convert H9N2 virus into a novel threat to human health.
| S-EPMC7387514 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The emergence of human infection with a novel H7N9 influenza virus in China raises a pandemic concern. Chicken H9N2 viruses provided all six of the novel reassortant's internal genes. However, it is not fully understood how the prevalence and evolution of these H9N2 chicken viruses facilitated the genesis of the novel H7N9 viruses. Here we show that over more than 10 y of cocirculation of multiple H9N2 genotypes, a genotype (G57) emerged that had changed antigenicity and improved adaptability in chickens. It became predominant in vaccinated farm chickens in China, caused widespread outbreaks in 2010-2013 before the H7N9 viruses emerged in humans, and finally provided all of their internal genes to the novel H7N9 viruses. The prevalence and variation of H9N2 influenza virus in farmed poultry could provide an important early warning of the emergence of novel reassortants with pandemic potential.
| S-EPMC4299237 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Several studies have highlighted the importance of the gut microbiota in developing immunity against viral infections in chickens. We have previously shown that H9N2 avian influenza A virus (AIV) infection retards the diversity of the natural colon-associated microbiota, which may further influence chicken health following recovery from infection. The effects of influenza infection on the upper respiratory tract (URT) microbiota are largely unknown. Here, we showed that H9N2 AIV infection lowers alpha diversity indices in the acute phase of infection in the URT, largely due to the family Lactobacillaceae being highly enriched during this time in the respiratory microbiota. Interestingly, microbiota diversity did not return to levels similar to control chickens in the recovery phase after viral shedding had ceased. Beta diversity followed a similar trend following the challenge. Lactobacillus associate statistically with the disturbed microbiota of infected chickens at the acute and recovery phases of infection. Additionally, we studied age-related changes in the respiratory microbiota during maturation in chickens. From 7 to 28 days of age, species richness and evenness were observed to advance over time as the microbial composition evolved. Maintaining microbiota homeostasis might be considered as a potential therapeutic target to prevent or aid recovery from H9N2 AIV infection.
| S-EPMC10534358 | biostudies-literature