Rapid diagnosis of avian influenza (AI) and assessment of pathogenicity of avian H5 and H7 subtypes by molecular methods.

Avian influenza (Al) is a highly contagious viral disease of poultry that is found worldwide. There are two forms of Al: a mild form called low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI), and a severe form called highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). HPAI is associated with the H5 and H7 subtypes of Al virus (AIV) and is subject to Federal control and International reporting. A real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) assay has been developed and validated that can help in the early detection of Al outbreaks. The rRT-PCR assay can also be used to identify infections caused by H5 and H7 subtypes of AIV. New isolates of AIV must be characterized as LPAI or HPAI for reporting and control purposes. The criteria for classification of an Al virus as HPAI are defined by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE); the definition includes a virulence and a molecular criterion. The virulence requirement for HPAI is defined as an AIV killing 75% or more of eight inoculated chickens within 10 days. The molecular criterion is the presence of multiple dibasic amino acids at the proteolytic cleavage site of the haemagglutinin (H) protein. All HPAI viruses isolated before 2002 fulfilled both the virulence and molecular criteria. Consequently, nucleotide sequencing of the H gene and deduction of the amino acid motif at the H cleavage site has been successfully used to assess the virulence of H5 and H7 AIVs rapidly. Since 2002, however, there have been three outbreaks of HPAI where the viruses responsible for the outbreaks have either fulfilled the virulence criterion or the molecular criterion, but not both.