Avian influenza virus (H11N9) in migratory shorebirds wintering in the Amazon Region, Brazil

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 10; p. e110141
• Main Authors: de Araujo, Jansen, de Azevedo, Jr, Severino M, Gaidet, Nicolas, Hurtado, Renata F, Walker, David, Thomazelli, Luciano M, Ometto, Tatiana, Seixas, Marina M M, Rodrigues, Roberta, Galindo, Daniele B, da Silva, Adriana C S, Rodrigues, Arlinéa M M, Bomfim, Leonardo L, Mota, Marcelo A, Larrazábal, Maria E, Branco, Joaquim O, Serafini, Patricia, Neto, Isaac S, Franks, John, Webby, Richard J, Webster, Robert G, Durigon, Edison L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 16.10.2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animal Migration; Animals; Aquatic birds; Aves; Avian flu; Avian influenza; Avian influenza viruses; Biology and Life Sciences; Bird migration; Birds; Brazil; Charadriiformes - virology; Children & youth; Hemispheres; Infectious diseases; Influenza; Influenza A; Influenza A virus - classification; Influenza A virus - isolation & purification; Migratory birds; Orthomyxoviridae; Pandemics; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Polymerase chain reaction; Seasons; Swine flu; Sympatry; Virology; Viruses; Brazil; South America; Argentina; United States > US; Tennessee; North America; Peru; Delaware Bay
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110141

Aquatic birds are the natural reservoir for avian influenza viruses (AIV). Habitats in Brazil provide stopover and wintering sites for water birds that migrate between North and South America. The current study was conducted to elucidate the possibility of the transport of influenza A viruses by birds that migrate annually between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In total, 556 orotracheal/cloacal swab samples were collected for influenza A virus screening using real-time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR). The influenza A virus-positive samples were subjected to viral isolation. Four samples were positive for the influenza A matrix gene by rRT-PCR. From these samples, three viruses were isolated, sequenced and characterized. All positive samples originated from a single bird species, the ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres), that was caught in the Amazon region at Caeté Bay, Northeast Pará, at Ilha de Canelas. To our knowledge, this is the first isolation of H11N9 in the ruddy turnstone in South America.