Journal
AVIAN PATHOLOGY
Volume 41, Issue 6, Pages 547-553Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/03079457.2012.744447
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Dutch Ministry of Agriculture and NIAID/NIH [HHSN266 200700010C]
- Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Research (Ministerio de Innovacion e Investigacion MICINN) at Erasmus Medical Center [JC2010-0257]
- European Commission [278976]
- Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs through the Impulse Veterinary Avian Influenza Research
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Black-headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) are a suitable host species to study the epidemiology of low-pathogenic avian influenza virus (LPAIV) infection in wild waterbirds because they are a common colony-breeding species in which LPAIV infection is detected frequently, limited mainly to the H13 and H16 subtypes. However, the sites of virus replication and associated lesions are poorly understood. We therefore performed virological and pathological analyses on tissues of black-headed gulls naturally infected with LPAIV. We found that 24 of 111 black-headed gulls collected from breeding colonies were infected with LPAIV (10 birds with H16N3, one bird with H13N8, 13 birds undetermined), based on virus and viral genome detection in pharyngeal and cloacal swabs. Of these 24 gulls, 15 expressed virus antigen in their tissues. Virus antigen expression was limited to epithelial cells of intestine and cloacal bursa. No histological lesions were detected in association with virus antigen expression. Our findings show that LPAIV replication in the intestinal tract of black-headed gulls is mainly a superficial infection in absence of detectable lesions, as determined recently for natural LPAIV infection in free-living mallards (Anas platyrhynchos). These findings imply that LPAIV in black-headed gulls has adapted to minimal pathogenicity to its host and that potentially the primary transmission route is faecaloral.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available