title: Detection and isolation of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza A viruses from blow flies collected in the vicinity of an infected poultry farm in Kyoto, Japan, 2004.
abstract: During the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza that occurred in Tamba Town, Kyoto Prefecture in 2004, a total of 926 flies were collected from six sites within a radius of 2.3 km from the poultry farm. The H5 influenza A virus genes were detected from the intestinal organs, crop, and gut of the two blow fly species, Calliphora nigribarbis and Aldrichina grahami, by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for the matrix protein (M) and hemagglutinin (HA) genes. The HA gene encoding multiple basic amino acids at the HA cleavage site indicated that this virus is a highly pathogenic strain. Based on the full-length sequences of the M, HA, and neuraminidase (NA) segments of virus isolates through embryonated chicken eggs, the virus from C. nigribarbis (A/blow fly/Kyoto/93/2004) was characterized as H5N1 subtype influenza A virus and shown to have > 99.9% identities in all three RNA segments to a strain from chickens (A/chicken/Kyoto/3/2004) and crows (A/crows/Kyoto/53/2004) derived during this outbreak period in Kyoto in 2004. Our results suggest it is possible that blow flies could become a mechanical transmitter of H5N1 influenza virus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Entomology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan. sawabe@nih.go.jp
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sawabe
authors.forename: Keita
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hoshino
authors.forename: Haruhiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Isawa
authors.forename: Toshinori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsuda
authors.forename: Hiromu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kurahashi
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanabayashi
authors.forename: Akitoyo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hotta
authors.forename: Takehiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Mutsuo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo; D004175:Diptera / Q000145:classification / Q000821:virology*; D006388:Hemagglutinins / Q000235:genetics; D053124:Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000145:classification / Q000821:virology*; D007564:Japan; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009439:Neuraminidase / Q000235:genetics; D011200:Poultry; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D006388:Hemagglutinins; C488936:M1 protein, Influenza A virus; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins; D009439:Neuraminidase