Illumina sequencing of H9N2 IAV from ferret infection experiments
Obesity is a chronic condition that can be characterized as a state of excess adipocytes that leads to a systemic increase in inflammation and dysregulation of metabolic hormones and immune cell populations. It is a comorbidity for many conditions, including infectious diseases. Here we investigate the link between host obesity and influenza A infection in a recently developed diet induced obesity model in ferrets. We infected ferrets with the A/Hong Kong/1073/1999 strain of H9N2 after 12 weeks on an obese or lean diet. Using a co-caging study design, we investigated the generation and transmission of intrahost genetic diversity by sequencing viral RNA obtained from nasal wash samples over multiple days of infection.