TY - JOUR AU - Gomaa, Mokhtar AU - El Rifay, Amira AU - Abu Zeid, Dina AU - Elabd, Mona AU - Elabd, Eman AU - Kandeil, Ahmed AU - Shama, Noura Abo AU - Kamel, Mina AU - Marouf, Mohamed AU - Barakat, Ahmed AU - Refaey, Samir AU - Naguib, Amal AU - McKenzie, Pamela AU - Webby, Richard AU - Ali, Mohamed AU - Kayali, Ghazi T1 - Incidence and Seroprevalence of Avian Influenza in a Cohort of Backyard Poultry Growers, Egypt, August 2015–March 2019 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2020 VL - 26 IS - 9 SP - 2129 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Currently enzootic avian influenza H5N1, H9N2, and H5N8 viruses were introduced into poultry in Egypt in 2006, 2011, and 2016, respectively. Infections with H5N1 and H9N2 were reported among poultry-exposed humans. We followed 2,402 persons from households raising backyard poultry from 5 villages in Egypt during August 2015–March 2019. We collected demographic, exposure, and health condition data and annual serum samples from each participant and obtained swab samples from participants reporting influenza-like illness symptoms. We performed serologic and molecular analyses and detected 4 cases of infection with H5N1 and 3 cases with H9N2. We detected very low seroprevalence of H5N1 antibodies and no H5N8 antibodies among the cohort; up to 11% had H9 antibodies. None of the exposure, health status, or demographic variables were related to being seropositive. Our findings indicate that avian influenza remains a public health risk in Eqypt, but infections may go undetected because of their mild or asymptomatic nature. KW - avian influenza KW - Egypt KW - epidemiology KW - cohort KW - incidence KW - seroprevalence KW - viruses KW - respiratory diseases KW - vaccine-preventable diseases KW - zoonoses KW - poultry DO - 10.3201/eid2609.200266 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/9/20-0266_article ER - End of Reference