@article{17b98fb1d10e429f940749aebfbf3c6e,
title = "Risk assessment of recent Egyptian H5N1 influenza viruses",
abstract = "Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses of the H5N1 subtype are enzootic in poultry populations in different parts of the world, and have caused numerous human infections in recent years, particularly in Egypt. However, no sustained human-to-human transmission of these viruses has yet been reported. We tested nine naturally occurring Egyptian H5N1 viruses (isolated in 2014-2015) in ferrets and found that three of them transmitted via respiratory droplets, causing a fatal infection in one of the exposed animals. All isolates were sensitive to neuraminidase inhibitors. However, these viruses were not transmitted via respiratory droplets in three additional transmission experiments in ferrets. Currently, we do not know if the efficiency of transmission is very low or if subtle differences in experimental parameters contributed to these inconsistent results. Nonetheless, our findings heighten concern regarding the pandemic potential of recent Egyptian H5N1 influenza viruses.",
author = "Arafa, {A. S.} and S. Yamada and M. Imai and T. Watanabe and S. Yamayoshi and K. Iwatsuki-Horimoto and M. Kiso and Y. Sakai-Tagawa and M. Ito and T. Imamura and N. Nakajima and K. Takahashi and D. Zhao and K. Oishi and A. Yasuhara and MacKen, {C. A.} and G. Zhong and Hanson, {A. P.} and S. Fan and J. Ping and M. Hatta and Lopes, {T. J.S.} and Y. Suzuki and M. El-Husseiny and A. Selim and N. Hagag and M. Soliman and G. Neumann and H. Hasegawa and Y. Kawaoka",
note = "Funding Information: This work was supported through discretionary funds and by the Center for Research on Influenza Pathogenesis (CRIP) funded by NIAID Contract HHSN272201400008C. This research was also supported by Leading Advanced Projects for medical innovation (LEAP), by the Japan Initiative for Global Research Network on Infectious Diseases (J-GRID), by the e-ASIA Joint Research Program from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), and by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, Sports, and Technology (MEXT) of Japan (No. 16H06429, 16K21723, and 16H06434). The surveillance activities in Egypt were supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) [grant number AID-263-IO-11-00001, Mod.#3] in the framework of the OSRO/EGY/101/USA project jointly implemented by the FAO, General Organization for Veterinary Services (GoVS) and National Laboratory for Veterinary Quality Control of Poultry Production (NLQP). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 The Author(s).",
year = "2016",
month = dec,
day = "6",
doi = "10.1038/srep38388",
language = "English",
volume = "6",
journal = "Scientific Reports",
issn = "2045-2322",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
}