Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2000 Aug 15;97(17):9654-8.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.160270697.

Avian-to-human transmission of H9N2 subtype influenza A viruses: relationship between H9N2 and H5N1 human isolates

Y P Lin  1 , M Shaw, V Gregory, K Cameron, W Lim, A Klimov, K Subbarao, Y Guan, S Krauss, K Shortridge, R Webster, N Cox, A Hay
Affiliations

Avian-to-human transmission of H9N2 subtype influenza A viruses: relationship between H9N2 and H5N1 human isolates

Y P Lin et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

In 1997, 18 cases of influenza in Hong Kong (bird flu) caused by a novel H5N1 (chicken) virus resulted in the deaths of six individuals and once again raised the specter of a potentially devastating influenza pandemic. Slaughter of the poultry in the live bird markets removed the source of infection and no further human cases of H5N1 infection have occurred. In March 1999, however, a new pandemic threat appeared when influenza A H9N2 viruses infected two children in Hong Kong. These two virus isolates are similar to an H9N2 virus isolated from a quail in Hong Kong in late 1997. Although differing in their surface hemagglutinin and neuraminidase components, a notable feature of these H9N2 viruses is that the six genes encoding the internal components of the virus are similar to those of the 1997 H5N1 human and avian isolates. This common feature emphasizes the apparent propensity of avian viruses with this genetic complement to infect humans and highlights the potential for the emergence of a novel human pathogen.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phylogenetic relationships between the hemagglutinin genes of recent H9N2 viruses. Nucleotides 10–1,209 of the coding sequences were analyzed with PAUP by using a maximum parsimony algorithm; the tree is rooted to the HA sequence of A/duck/Alberta/60/76 (H12 N5). The lengths of the horizontal lines are proportional to the number of nucleotide differences (as indicated). With the exception of the sequences for A/HK/1073/99 and A/HK/1074/99, the sequences were obtained from GenBank, including those of A/quail/Arkansas/29209/93 (Qa/Ar/29203/93); A/turkey/Minnesota/38391/95 (Ty/Mn/38391/95); A/turkey/Wisconsin/1/66 (Ty/Wis/1/66); A/chicken/Korea/96323/96 (Ck/Kor/96323/96); A/duck/Hong Kong/Y439/97 (Dk/HK/Y439/97); A/chicken/Hong Kong/G23/97 (Ck/HK/G23/97); A/pigeon/Hong Kong/Y233/97 (Pg/HK/Y233/97); A/chicken/Beijing/1/94 (Ck/Beij/1/94); A/chicken/Hong Kong/739/94 (Ck/HK/739/94); and A/quail/Hong Kong/AF157/92 (Qa/HK/AF157/92).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Webster R G, Laver W G. Bull WHO. 1972;47:449–452. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Webster R G, Bean W J, Gorman O T, Chambers T M, Kawaoka Y. Microbiol Rev. 1992;56:152–179. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Webster R G, Hinshaw V S, Bean W J, Van Wyke K L, Geraci J R, St. Aubin D J, Petursson G. Virology. 1981;113:712–724. - PubMed
    1. Pensaert M, Ottis K, Vandeputte J, Kaplan M M, Backmann P A. Bull WHO. 1981;59:75–78. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guan Y, Shortridge K F, Krauss S, Li P H, Kawaoka Y, Webster R G. J Virol. 1996;70:8041–8046. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms