Coexistence of Avian Influenza Virus H10 and H9 Subtypes among Chickens in Live Poultry Markets during an Outbreak of Human Infection with Novel H10N8 Virus in Nanchang, China

抄録

Human infections with the novel H10N8 virus have raised concerns about pandemic potential worldwide. We report the results of a cross sectional study on avian influenza virus (AIV) in live poultry markets (LPMs) in Nanchang, China after the first patient case with H10N8 virus was reported in the city. A total of 201 specimens tested positive for AIVs of the 618 samples collected from 24 LPMs in Nanchang from December 2013 to January 2014. We found that the LPMs were heavily contaminated by AIVs, with H9, H10 and H5 being the predominant subtypes and more than half of the LPMs providing samples positive for H10 subtype. Moreover, the coexistence of different subtypes was common in LPMs. Of the 201 positive samples, 20.9% (42/201) were mixed infections of different HA subtypes of AIVs. Of the 42 mixed infections, 50% (21/42) were coexistence of H9 and H10 subtypes with or without H5, and were from chicken samples. This indicated that H10N8 virus probably originated from the segment reassortment of H9 and H10 subtypes during the period of emerging of the H10N8 virus.