Pathogenicity and Transmissibility of North American Triple Reassortant Swine Influenza A Viruses in Ferrets

PLoS Pathogens

Jerold E. Rehg¹  Jasmine C. Turner²  Subrata Barman²  Petr S. Krylov²  John Franks²  David Wang²  Thomas P. Fabrizio²  Patrick Seiler²  Richard J. Webby²  Robert G. Webster²  Gene A. Erickson³  Marie Gramer⁴ 

[1] Department of Pathology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America;Division of Virology, Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America;Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (NCVDL) System, North Carolina Department of Agriculture, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America;Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America

关键词: Ferrets;    Viral transmission;    infection;    H1N1;    Viral pathogens;    Swine;    Influenza A virus;    Pathogenesis;    Viral replication;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.ppat.1002791

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

North American triple reassortant swine (TRS) influenza A viruses have caused sporadic human infections since 2005, but human-to-human transmission has not been documented. These viruses have six gene segments (PB2, PB1, PA, HA, NP, and NS) closely related to those of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic viruses. Therefore, understanding of these viruses' pathogenicity and transmissibility may help to identify determinants of virulence of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic viruses and to elucidate potential human health threats posed by the TRS viruses. Here we evaluated in a ferret model the pathogenicity and transmissibility of three groups of North American TRS viruses containing swine-like and/or human-like HA and NA gene segments. The study was designed only to detect informative and significant patterns in the transmissibility and pathogenicity of these three groups of viruses. We observed that irrespective of their HA and NA lineages, the TRS viruses were moderately pathogenic in ferrets and grew efficiently in both the upper and lower respiratory tracts. All North American TRS viruses studied were transmitted between ferrets via direct contact. However, their transmissibility by respiratory droplets was related to their HA and NA lineages: TRS viruses with human-like HA and NA were transmitted most efficiently, those with swine-like HA and NA were transmitted minimally or not transmitted, and those with swine-like HA and human-like NA (N2) showed intermediate transmissibility. We conclude that the lineages of HA and NA may play a crucial role in the respiratory droplet transmissibility of these viruses. These findings have important implications for pandemic planning and warrant confirmation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY