title: Influenza monitoring in Sardinia, Italy identifies H3 subtype in Mediterranean wild migratory birds.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Wild migratory birds are global distributors of pathogens. Sardinia, Italy, is the second largest Island in the Mediterranean and is a land bridge between Europe and Africa.
  
  
  METHODS
  We designed a surveillance protocol to investigate wild migratory birds for presence, frequency, and type of avian influenza viruses. We collected over 4,000 avian samples and compared three sampling methods, fecal, cloacal, and tracheal, to determine the most productive for virus identification. To determine frequency of infection, RNA was extracted and RT-PCRs for avian influenza virus genes were run. Positive samples were cultivated for live virus, sub typed and sequenced.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-four samples were positive for influenza nucleoprotein gene. We identified two previously unidentified H3 subtype strains and found cloacae to have the highest rate of virus identification and fecal sampling to provide quality RNA and repeatable results for determination of virus presence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our investigation provides information on the frequency of Mediterranean avian influenza viruses, and validates the initiation of an avian influenza surveillance protocol.  Taken together with global avian influenza findings, these results give insight into infectious disease distributions which is important for viral pandemic monitoring and design of preventative measures.
authors.affiliation: SaRD - Sardinia Research and Development, University di Sassari, Sassari, Italy. akelvinphd@jidc.org
authors.forename: Alyson Ann
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Kelvin
authors.forename: Dionigia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Meloni
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sansonetti
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Borghetto
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.forename: Rosaria
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Santangelo
authors.forename: Danilo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pisu
authors.forename: Cheryl M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Paglietti
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Banner
authors.forename: Amber
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farooqui
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marongiu
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santona
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fadda
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kelvin
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rubino
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000821:virology*; D002988:Cloaca / Q000821:virology; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D053123:Influenza A Virus, H3N8 Subtype / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D007558:Italy; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; D012367:RNA, Viral