Avian influenza H5N1 in viverrids: implications for wildlife health and conservation

Abstract

The Asian countries chronically infected with avian influenza A H5N1 are 'global hotspots' for biodiversity conservation in terms of species diversity, endemism and levels of threat. Since 2003, avian influenza A H5N1 viruses have naturally infected and killed a range of wild bird species, four felid species and a mustelid. Here, we report fatal disseminated H5N1 infection in a globally threatened viverrid, the Owston's civet, in Vietnam, highlighting the risk that avian influenza H5N1 poses to mammalian and avian biodiversity across its expanding geographic range.

Figure 1

(a) Owston's civet (Chrotogale owstoni). Immunohistochemistry using a monoclonal antibody against the N protein showed (b) positive red staining of the bronchial epithelium of the lung and (c) positive staining of cerebral neurons of the cerebral cortex. (d) Phylogenetic relationship of the haemagglutinin gene of representative H5N1 influenza A viruses (nucleotide positions 1–1012; scale bar, 0.005 nucleotide changes per site). Methods for genetic analysis have been described previously (Li et al. 2004; Chen et al. 2005). Numbers at branches indicate bootstrap values from 1000 replicates. Clade 1 indicates viruses from the Thailand and Vietnam outbreak in 2004–2005; clade 2 indicates the position of the civet virus with those viruses from southern China. BH gull, brown-headed gull (Larus brunnicephalus); BHG, black-headed gull (Larus ichthyaetus); Ck, chicken; Dk, duck; GD, Guangdong; GH, grey heron (Ardea cinerea); Gs, goose; HK, Hong Kong; HN, Hunan; Pf, peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus); Ph, pheasant; RB pochard, rosy-billed pochard (Netta peposaca); ST, Shantou; YN, Yunnan.