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allied
academies
Microbiology: Current Research
Volume 2
International Conference on
Emerging Diseases, Outbreaks & Case Studies
&
16
th
Annual Meeting on
March 28-29, 2018 | Orlando, USA
Influenza
A
widespread epidemic of equine influenza (EI) occurred
in nonvaccinated equine population across multiple
districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan during
2015-2016. An epidemiological surveillance study was
conducted from Oct 2015 to April 2016 to investigate the
outbreak. EI virus strains were isolated in embryonated eggs
from suspected equines swab samples and were subjected
to genome sequencing using M13 tagged segment specific
primers. Phylogenetic analyses of the nucleotide sequences
were concluded using Geneious. Haemagglutinin (HA),
Neuraminidase (NA), Matrix (M) and nucleoprotein (NP)
genes nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the isolated
viruses were aligned with those of OIE recommended, FC-1,
FC-2, and contemporary isolates of influenza A viruses from
other species. HA and NA genes amino acid sequences were
very similar to Tennessee/14 and Malaysia/15 of FC-1 and
clustered with the contemporary isolates recently reported
in the USA. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these viruses
were mostly identical (with 99.6% and 97.4% nucleotide
homology) to, and were reassortants containing chicken/
Pakistan/14 (H7N3) and Canine/Beijing/10 (H3N2) like M
and NP genes. Genetic analysis indicated that A/equine/
Pakistan/16 viruses were most probably the result of several
re-assortments between the co-circulating avian and equine
viruses, and were genetically unlike the other equine viruses
due to the presence of H7N3 or H3N2 like M and NP genes.
Epidemiological data analysis indicated the potential chance
of mixed, and management such as mixed farming system
by keeping equine, canine and backyard poultry together in
confined premises as the greater risk factors responsible for
the re-assortments. Other factors might have contributed to
the spread of the epidemic, including low awareness level,
poor control of equine movements, and absence of border
control disease strategies.
Speaker Biography
Amjad Khan has completed his PhD from the University of Veterinary and Animal
Sciences, Lahore. He currently a Research Associate working in a project on surveillance
of influenza viruses in Pakistan. He has published more than 20 research articles in
peer reviewed journals.
e:
dramjadkhan77@gmail.comMolecular epidemiology of a novel re-assorted epidemic strain of equine influenza virus in Pakistan
in 2015-16
Amjad khan, Muhammad Hassan Mushtaq, Mansur Ud Din Ahmad, Jawad Nazir, Asghar Khan
and
Shahid Hussain Farooqi
University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pakistan