Development of a Large-Volume Concentration Method to Recover Infectious Avian Influenza Virus from the Aquatic Environment

Since late 2021, outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus have caused a record number of mortalities in wild birds, domestic poultry, and mammals in North America. Wetlands are plausible environmental reservoirs of avian influenza virus; however, the transmission and persistence of the v...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Viruses 2024-12, Vol.16 (12), p.1898
Main Authors: Hubbard, Laura E, Stelzer, Erin A, Poulson, Rebecca L, Kolpin, Dana W, Szablewski, Christine M, Givens, Carrie E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Aquatic birds
Aquatic environment
Avian flu
avian influenza
Birds - virology
Centrifugation
Elution
environment
Flocculation
infectious
Influenza
Influenza A virus - genetics
Influenza A virus - isolation & purification
Influenza in Birds - virology
method
Methods
RNA, Viral - genetics
Surface water
Testing laboratories
Ultrafiltration
virus
Viruses
water
Water Microbiology
Wetlands
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Summary:Since late 2021, outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus have caused a record number of mortalities in wild birds, domestic poultry, and mammals in North America. Wetlands are plausible environmental reservoirs of avian influenza virus; however, the transmission and persistence of the virus in the aquatic environment are poorly understood. To explore environmental contamination with the avian influenza virus, a large-volume concentration method for detecting infectious avian influenza virus in waterbodies was developed. A variety of filtering, elution, and concentration methods were explored, in addition to testing filtering speeds using artificially amended 20 L water matrices (deionized water with sterile dust, autoclaved wetland water, and wetland water). The optimal protocol was dead-end ultrafiltration coupled with salt solution elution and centrifugation concentration. Using this method, infectious virus was recovered at 1 × 10 50% egg infectious dose per milliliter (EID /mL), whereas viral RNA was detected inconsistently down to 1 × 10 EID /mL. This method will aid in furthering our understanding of the avian influenza virus in the environment and may be applicable to the environmental detection of other enveloped viruses.
ISSN:1999-4915
1999-4915
DOI:10.3390/v16121898