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. 2019 May 5;219(11):1688-1696.
doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiy595.

Detection of Avian Influenza A(H7N2) Virus Infection Among Animal Shelter Workers Using a Novel Serological Approach-New York City, 2016-2017

Eugenie Poirot  1   2 , Min Z Levine  1 , Kate Russell  1 , Rebekah J Stewart  1 , Justine M Pompey  1 , Sophia Chiu  1 , Alicia M Fry  1 , Liaini Gross  1   3 , Fiona P Havers  1 , Zhu-Nan Li  1 , Feng Liu  1 , Aldo Crossa  2 , Christopher T Lee  1   2 , Vanessa Boshuizen  1   4 , Jennifer L Rakeman  2 , Sally Slavinski  2 , Scott Harper  1   2 , L Hannah Gould  2
Affiliations

Detection of Avian Influenza A(H7N2) Virus Infection Among Animal Shelter Workers Using a Novel Serological Approach-New York City, 2016-2017

Eugenie Poirot et al. J Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: In 2016, an influenza A(H7N2) virus outbreak occurred in cats in New York City's municipal animal shelters. One human infection was initially detected.

Methods: We conducted a serological survey using a novel approach to rule out cross-reactive antibodies to other seasonal influenza viruses to determine whether additional A(H7N2) human infections had occurred and to assess exposure risk.

Results: Of 121 shelter workers, one had serological evidence of A(H7N2) infection, corresponding to a seroprevalence of 0.8% (95% confidence interval, .02%-4.5%). Five persons exhibited low positive titers to A(H7N2) virus, indicating possible infection; however, we could not exclude cross-reactive antibody responses to seasonal influenza viruses. The remaining 115 persons were seronegative. The seropositive person reported multiple direct cat exposures without using personal protective equipment and mild illness with subjective fever, runny nose, and sore throat.

Conclusions: We identified a second case of A(H7N2) infection from this outbreak, providing further evidence of cat-to-human transmission of A(H7N2) virus.

Keywords: H7N2; human infection; influenza; outbreak; serology; zoonotic.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. All authors: No reported conflicts of interest. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Distributions of microneutralization (MN) and hemagglutination inhibition (HI) geometric mean titers against influenza A(H7N2) and A(H1N1) viruses among animal shelter workers. Single serum collected from 121 workers during 25 January–8 February 2017 were examined by MN and HI assays for antibody activity against influenza A(H7N2) (A/New York/108/2016) virus. Serum was also examined by MN assays for antibody activity against influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 (A/Michigan/45/2015) virus. Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; HI, hemagglutination inhibition; MN, microneutralization.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Antibody serum adsorption profile of an influenza A(H7N2)–seropositive case (n = 1) with influenza A(H7N2) (A/NewYork/108/2016) virus, circulating A(H3N2) (A/HongKong/4801/2014) virus, and A(H1N1)pdm09 (A/Michigan/45/2015) virus by microneutralization assay (A), and recombinant H7– and recombinant H3–specific immunoglobulin G enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (B). Abbreviation: IgG, immunoglobulin G.
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References

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