Ducks have a variant of the avian influenza virus subsype

in response to the avian flu epidemic, China launched a new chicken vaccine in September 2017. Recently, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences found that the vaccine is effective, but it is worth noting that researchers found two new gene variants of H7N9 and H7N2 in unimmune ducks. The paper was published in
Journal.
ChenHualan, lead author of the paper and an animal virologist at the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, noted that, surprisingly, this new highly pathogenic subtype is produced in ducks and adapts well, while the original highly pathogenic H7N9 has very limited replication capacity in ducks.
Chen's team collected genetic samples from 37,928 chickens and 15,956 ducks eight months and five months after vaccination, resulting in the isolation of 304 H7N9 viruses before vaccination and only 17 H7N9 and 1 H7N2 viruses.
the data showed that vaccinations in chickens had succeeded in stopping the spread of the H7N9 virus. But avian influenza viruses can replicate in host cells and often mutate and recombine. When the team looked closely at the genetic types of duck-caused strains, they found that the H7N9 and H7N2 viruses took certain gene fragments from other duck influenza viruses, improving their ability to infect ducks.
statistics, Chinese consumers eat about 3 billion ducks a year. To prevent further human infections, the researchers believe the virus should be eradicated in ducks as soon as possible. Fortunately, studies have shown that the current vaccine will also work for ducks, so it is recommended that ducks be vaccinated against H7 immediately, Chen said. (Source: Tang Feng, China Science Daily)