Replication of avian influenza viruses in equine tracheal epithelium but not in horses.
We evaluated a hypothesis that horses are susceptible to avian influenza viruses by in vitro testing, using explanted equine tracheal epithelial cultures, and in vivo testing by aerosol inoculation of ponies. Results showed that several subtypes of avian influenza viruses detectably replicated in vitro. Three viruses with high in vitro replication competence were administered to ponies. None of the three demonstrably replicated or caused disease signs in ponies. While these results do not exhaustively test our hypothesis, they do highlight that the tracheal explant culture system is a poor predictor of in vivo infectivity.
Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, Department of Veterinary Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
Thomas M
TM
Chambers
Udeni B R
UB
Balasuriya
Stephanie E
SE
Reedy
Ashish
A
Tiwari
D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D004848:Epithelium / Q000821:virology*; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D006736:Horses; D058507:Host Specificity; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000821:virology*; D009976:Orthomyxoviridae Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D014132:Trachea / Q000821:virology*; D014774:Virulence; D014779:Virus Replication
Avian influenza; equine influenza; host range; interspecies transmission; organ culture