Volume 14, Number 4—April 2008
Research
Wild Ducks as Long-Distance Vectors of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus (H5N1)
Juthatip Keawcharoen*, Debby van Riel*, Geert van Amerongen*, Theo Bestebroer*, Walter E. Beyer*, Rob van Lavieren*, Albert D.M.E. Osterhaus*, Ron A.M. Fouchier*, and Thijs Kuiken*
Table
Health status and virus excretion of 46 wild ducks experimentally infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1)
| Common name (taxonomic name), n = 8 each | No. ducks with clinical signs |
No. ducks that excreted virus from* |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pharynx |
Cloaca |
|||||||
| Mild | Severe | Virus isolation | RT-PCR | Virus isolation | RT-PCR | |||
| Tufted duck (Aythya fuligula)† | 4 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 5 | ||
| Eurasian pochard (Aythya ferina)† | 3 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 5 | ||
| Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 5 | ||
| Common teal (Anas crecca) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Eurasian wigeon (Anas penelope) | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Gadwall (Anas strepera) |
0 |
0 |
7 |
8 |
0 |
8 |
||
| Total | 7 | 4 | 35 | 44 | 3 | 27 | ||
*Positive result from any swab collected during the experiment. RT-PCR, reverse transcription–PCR.
†One bird removed after inoculation because of concurrent disease.
