Sunday, April 18, 2010

Isolation and molecular characterization of a H5N1 virus isolated from a Jungle crow in India.


Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrohynchos) is a common resident in the Himalayas. Size: 52-59 cm

Author(s) Nagarajan S, Tosh C, Murugkar HV, Venkatesh G, Katare M, Jain R, Behera P, Khandia R, Tripathi S, Kulkarni DD, Dubey SC
Institution High Security Animal Disease Laboratory, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Anand Nagar, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, 462 021, India, nagavetbio@gmail.com.
Source Virus Genes 2010 Apr 16.

Abstract: In 2008, India experienced widespread outbreaks of H5N1 virus in West Bengal, Tripura, and Assam.

The virus was detected in Kamrup district of Assam in November 2008 and subsequently spread to eight more districts.

Two Jungle or Large billed crows (Corvus macrohynchos) were found dead in a hospital campus at about 8 km from the foci of initial detection of the virus in the same district.

One of the crows was positive for H5N1 avian influenza virus by virus isolation, real time RT-PCR, and RT-PCR tests.

Full length sequencing of all the eight segments of the virus was carried out. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that all the eight genes grouped with clade 2.2 viruses and were closely related to the human isolate of Bangladesh and avian isolates from India, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Germany, and Saudi Arabia.

The molecular analysis indicated avian receptor (alpha 2,3 sialic acid) specificity, susceptibility to oseltamivir and amantadine group of antivirals and lower pathogenicity to mice.

Language ENG
Pub Type(s) JOURNAL ARTICLE
PubMed ID 20396941

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