Infection of avian influenza virus (H5N1) isolated in Thailand using tracheal culture

Abstract

Avian influenza (AI) is caused by nfluenza type A (H5N1) virus. The virus causes severe disase and death in several avan and mammalian speces. The objective of this study was to investigate the ablity of swne and chicken tracheal cultures to support highly pathogenc avian influenza (HPAI) viral replicaton. Three HPAI viruses isolated from chicken (A/chicken/Thailand/CU-K2/04), duck (A/duck/Thailand/CU-328/07), and tiger (A/tiger/Thailand/CU-T7/04) in Thailand was used to nfect the swne and chicken tracheal culture. Results indicated that in contrast to swine tracheal culture, chicken tracheal culture can support chicken and tiger virus replication. This finding correlates with previous studies indicatng that pig's had low susceptibiity to HPAI infecton. The immunoghistochemistry staining and histopathological study confirmed the HPAI infection as tracheal epithelium necrosis and exfoliation were observed. Nucleotide and amino acd sequences analysis from specific locations on HA, PB1 and PB2 genes from the pre and post-tracheal infection indicated that there were no genetic changed. The results of this study suggest the possibility of using animal tracheal culture as a model to further studying HPAI to better understand the mechanism of infection. The information gained from these types of studies can be supporting data for future prevention and control of HPAI infection.