Journal
JOURNAL OF VIROLOGY
Volume 90, Issue 14, Pages 6235-6243Publisher
AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY
DOI: 10.1128/JVI.00127-16
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Funding
- Key Technologies Research and Development Program of China [2013BAD12B01]
- National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) [2011CB504702]
- BBSRC [BB/I024704/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/I024704/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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Since May 2014, highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N6 virus has been reported to cause six severe human infections three of which were fatal. The biological properties of this subtype, in particular its relative pathogenicity and transmissibility in mammals, are not known. We characterized the virus receptor-binding affinity, pathogenicity, and transmissibility in mice and ferrets of four H5N6 isolates derived from waterfowl in China from 2013-2014. All four H5N6 viruses have acquired a binding affinity for human-like SA alpha 2,6Gal-linked receptor to be able to attach to human tracheal epithelial and alveolar cells. The emergent H5N6 viruses, which share high sequence similarity with the human isolate A/Guangzhou/39715/2014 (H5N6), were fully infective and highly transmissible by direct contact in ferrets but showed less-severe pathogenicity than the parental H5N1 virus. The present results highlight the threat of emergent H5N6 viruses to poultry and human health and the need to closely track their continual adaptation in humans.
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