Special Issue "Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus Emergence"

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Viruses".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Mathilde Richard
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Viroscience Department, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Interests: molecular virology; viral pathogenesis; viral evolution; virus–host interactions; influenza viruses; polymerase; viral transmission; zoonosis; pandemics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) outbreaks have resulted in billions of poultry deaths through the culling of infected or potentially exposed poultry. HPAIVs emerge from low pathogenic avian influenza viruses (LPAIVs) upon transmission from wild waterfowl to terrestrial poultry. Since 1959, a total of 47 independent transitions from LPAIV to HPAIV have been recorded, all in influenza viruses of the H5 and H7 subtypes. Drastic measures, such as the culling of infected and exposed poultry, are needed to control HPAIVs and reduce the risk of zoonotic transmission. However, despite rigorous interventions, some HPAIVs (e.g. H5 HPAIVs from the A/goose/Guangdong/1/1996 (GsGd) lineage) disseminated globally, leading to devastating economic losses and consequences. They constitute the only lineage of HPAIV that has become endemic in poultry and is circulating in wild birds in many countries of the world. Besides these devastating consequences on animal welfare and the poultry industry, spill-over events of HPAIVs to humans pose a continuous pandemic threat.

Understanding the main drivers of HPAIV emergence is critical for the design and implementation of strategies to mitigate their impact on animal species. The scope of this Special Issue is to gather articles (research articles, short communications, reviews, and commentaries) on the viral, host, and environmental factors that drive HPAIV emergence, regarding both the transition from LPAIV to HPAIV as well as HPAIV emergence, natural selection, and establishment in different animal species.

Dr. M. Richard
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • highly pathogenic avian influenza
  • virus emergence
  • virus evolution
  • natural selection
  • reservoir
  • spill-over hosts
  • birds

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Genetic Characterization of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N8) Virus in Pakistani Live Bird Markets Reveals Rapid Diversification of Clade 2.3.4.4b Viruses
Viruses 2021, 13(8), 1633; https://doi.org/10.3390/v13081633 - 18 Aug 2021
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Abstract
The highly pathogenic (HPAI) avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses have undergone reassortment with multiple non-N1-subtype neuraminidase genes since 2008, leading to the emergence of H5Nx viruses. H5Nx viruses established themselves quickly in birds and disseminated from China to Africa, the Middle East, Europe and [...] Read more.
The highly pathogenic (HPAI) avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses have undergone reassortment with multiple non-N1-subtype neuraminidase genes since 2008, leading to the emergence of H5Nx viruses. H5Nx viruses established themselves quickly in birds and disseminated from China to Africa, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Multiple genetic clades have successively evolved through frequent mutations and reassortment, posing a continuous threat to domestic poultry and causing substantial economic losses. Live bird markets are recognized as major sources of avian-to-human infection and for the emergence of zoonotic influenza. In Pakistan, the A(H5N1) virus was first reported in domestic birds in 2007; however, avian influenza surveillance is limited and there is a lack of knowledge on the evolution and transmission of the A(H5) virus in the country. We collected oropharyngeal swabs from domestic poultry and environmental samples from six different live bird markets during 2018–2019. We detected and sequenced HPAI A(H5N8) viruses from two chickens, one quail and one environmental sample in two markets. Temporal phylogenetics indicated that all novel HPAI A(H5N8) viruses belonged to clade 2.3.4.4b, with all eight genes of Pakistan A(H5N8) viruses most closely related to 2017 Saudi Arabia A(H5N8) viruses, which were likely introduced via cross-border transmission from neighboring regions approximately three months prior to virus detection into domestic poultry. Our data further revealed that clade 2.3.4.4b viruses underwent rapid lineage expansion in 2017 and acquired significant amino acid mutations, including mutations associated with increased haemagglutinin affinity to human α-2,6 receptors, prior to the first human A(H5N8) infection in Russian poultry workers in 2020. These results highlight the need for systematic avian influenza surveillance in live bird markets in Pakistan to monitor for potential A(H5Nx) variants that may arise from poultry populations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus Emergence)
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