Infectious Properties of Avian Influenza A/H5N1 Virus Strains Studied by means of Experiments on Mice

The studied strains of avian influenza virus A/H5N1 (AIV), isolated in the territory of the Russian Federation and CIS countries, can be classified into three groups according to their virulence for mice after intranasal and aerosol challenging: highly virulent strains [50 % aerosol lethal dose (ALD₅₀) - <3,0 lg 50 % embryonic infection doses (EID₅₀)] - A/Chicken/Kurgan/05/2005, A/Chicken/Crimea/04/2005, A/Chicken/Omsk/06, A/Chicken/Krasnodar/02/06, A/Chicken/Dagestan/06; strains with mid-level virulence [LD₅₀ (ALD₅₀) - 3,0-4,5 lg EID₅₀] - A/Duck/Kurgan/08/2005; and non-virulent strains [LD₅₀ (ALD₅₀) - >4,5 lg EID₅₀] - A/Turkey/Suzdalka/Nov-1/2005 and A/Chicken/Suzdalka/Nov-11/2005. Registered is the high degree of correlation (r = 0,89 ) between the indexes of virulence of the strains, obtained by means of intranasal and aerosol challenging of mice. The primary target-cells in mice, respiratory-infected by AIV, are the respiratory tract ciliated cells and pneumonocytes of I, II types.

Avian Influenza Virus A/H5N1, mouse, intranasal challenging, aerosol challenging, 50 % lethal dose, respiratory tract, target-cell for virus

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