title: Identification of equine influenza virus infection in Asian wild horses (Equus przewalskii).
abstract: An outbreak of equine influenza was observed in the Asian wild horse population in Xinjiang Province, China, in 2007. Nasal swabs were collected from wild horses and inoculated into 9-10-day SPF embryonated eggs. The complete genome of the isolate was sequenced. A comparison of the amino acid sequence revealed that the isolate was an equine influenza virus strain, which we named A/equine/Xinjiang/4/2007. Each gene of the virus was found to have greater than 99 % homology to equine influenza virus strains of the Florida-2 sublineage, which were circulating simultaneously in China, and a lesser amount of homology was found to the strain A/equine/Qinghai/1/1994 (European lineage), which was isolated during the last outbreak in China. These observations were confirmed by phylogenetic analysis. In addition, the deduced amino acid sequence of the neuraminidase of the A/equine/Xinjiang/4/2007 strain was identical to that of A/equine/California/8560/2002, an American isolate, and was found to be similar to those of Florida-2 strains found in other countries by comparing them with nine other field strains that were isolated in China from 2007 to 2008. It is suggested that the neuraminidase segment of A/equine/Xinjiang/4/2007 may have been obtained from equine influenza virus strains from other countries. We report for the first time an outbreak of equine influenza in the Asian wild horse population, and the complete genome of the virus is provided and analyzed.
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150001, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Shihua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jialiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Wenhua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xiang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D006736:Horses; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009976:Orthomyxoviridae Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology