Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Virology logoLink to Journal of Virology
. 1996 Nov;70(11):8041–8046. doi: 10.1128/jvi.70.11.8041-8046.1996

Emergence of avian H1N1 influenza viruses in pigs in China.

Y Guan 1, K F Shortridge 1, S Krauss 1, P H Li 1, Y Kawaoka 1, R G Webster 1
PMCID: PMC190877  PMID: 8892928

Abstract

Avian influenza A viruses from Asia are recognized as the source of genes that reassorted with human viral genes to generate the Asian/57 (H2N2) and Hong Kong/68 (H3N2) pandemic strains earlier in this century. Here we report the genetic analysis of avian influenza A H1N1 viruses recently isolated from pigs in southern China, a host suspected to generate new pandemic strains through gene reassortment events. Each of the eight gene segments was of avian origin. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that these genes form an Asian sublineage of the Eurasian avian lineage, suggesting that these viruses are an independent introduction into pigs in Asia. The presence of avian influenza viruses in pigs in China places them in an optimal position for transmission to humans and may serve as an early warning of the emergence of the next human influenza virus pandemic.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (192.2 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bean W. J., Jr, Sriram G., Webster R. G. Electrophoretic analysis of iodine-labeled influenza virus RNA segments. Anal Biochem. 1980 Feb;102(1):228–232. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(80)90343-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Claas E. C., Kawaoka Y., de Jong J. C., Masurel N., Webster R. G. Infection of children with avian-human reassortant influenza virus from pigs in Europe. Virology. 1994 Oct;204(1):453–457. doi: 10.1006/viro.1994.1553. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Fitch W. M., Farris J. S. Evolutionary trees with minimum nucleotide replacements from amino acid sequences. J Mol Evol. 1974;3(4):263–278. doi: 10.1007/BF01796042. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Gorman O. T., Bean W. J., Kawaoka Y., Donatelli I., Guo Y. J., Webster R. G. Evolution of influenza A virus nucleoprotein genes: implications for the origins of H1N1 human and classical swine viruses. J Virol. 1991 Jul;65(7):3704–3714. doi: 10.1128/jvi.65.7.3704-3714.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Guo Y., Wang M., Kawaoka Y., Gorman O., Ito T., Saito T., Webster R. G. Characterization of a new avian-like influenza A virus from horses in China. Virology. 1992 May;188(1):245–255. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(92)90754-d. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hinshaw V. S., Alexander D. J., Aymard M., Bachmann P. A., Easterday B. C., Hannoun C., Kida H., Lipkind M., MacKenzie J. S., Nerome K. Antigenic comparisons of swine-influenza-like H1N1 isolates from pigs, birds and humans: an international collaborative study. Bull World Health Organ. 1984;62(6):871–878. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hinshaw V. S., Webster R. G., Turner B. The perpetuation of orthomyxoviruses and paramyxoviruses in Canadian waterfowl. Can J Microbiol. 1980 May;26(5):622–629. doi: 10.1139/m80-108. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Horimoto T., Rivera E., Pearson J., Senne D., Krauss S., Kawaoka Y., Webster R. G. Origin and molecular changes associated with emergence of a highly pathogenic H5N2 influenza virus in Mexico. Virology. 1995 Oct 20;213(1):223–230. doi: 10.1006/viro.1995.1562. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Ito T., Gorman O. T., Kawaoka Y., Bean W. J., Webster R. G. Evolutionary analysis of the influenza A virus M gene with comparison of the M1 and M2 proteins. J Virol. 1991 Oct;65(10):5491–5498. doi: 10.1128/jvi.65.10.5491-5498.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kawaoka Y., Krauss S., Webster R. G. Avian-to-human transmission of the PB1 gene of influenza A viruses in the 1957 and 1968 pandemics. J Virol. 1989 Nov;63(11):4603–4608. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.11.4603-4608.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kida H., Ito T., Yasuda J., Shimizu Y., Itakura C., Shortridge K. F., Kawaoka Y., Webster R. G. Potential for transmission of avian influenza viruses to pigs. J Gen Virol. 1994 Sep;75(Pt 9):2183–2188. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-75-9-2183. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Krishnan B. R., Blakesley R. W., Berg D. E. Linear amplification DNA sequencing directly from single phage plaques and bacterial colonies. Nucleic Acids Res. 1991 Mar 11;19(5):1153–1153. doi: 10.1093/nar/19.5.1153. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Lin Y. P., Shu L. L., Wright S., Bean W. J., Sharp G. B., Shortridge K. F., Webster R. G. Analysis of the influenza virus gene pool of avian species from southern China. Virology. 1994 Feb;198(2):557–566. doi: 10.1006/viro.1994.1067. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Ludwig S., Schultz U., Mandler J., Fitch W. M., Scholtissek C. Phylogenetic relationship of the nonstructural (NS) genes of influenza A viruses. Virology. 1991 Aug;183(2):566–577. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(91)90985-k. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Ludwig S., Stitz L., Planz O., Van H., Fitch W. M., Scholtissek C. European swine virus as a possible source for the next influenza pandemic? Virology. 1995 Oct 1;212(2):555–561. doi: 10.1006/viro.1995.1513. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Markwell D. D., Shortridge K. F. Possible waterborne transmission and maintenance of influenza viruses in domestic ducks. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1982 Jan;43(1):110–115. doi: 10.1128/aem.43.1.110-115.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Scholtissek C., Rohde W., Von Hoyningen V., Rott R. On the origin of the human influenza virus subtypes H2N2 and H3N2. Virology. 1978 Jun 1;87(1):13–20. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(78)90153-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Schultz U., Fitch W. M., Ludwig S., Mandler J., Scholtissek C. Evolution of pig influenza viruses. Virology. 1991 Jul;183(1):61–73. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(91)90118-u. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Shortridge K. F. Avian influenza A viruses of southern China and Hong Kong: ecological aspects and implications for man. Bull World Health Organ. 1982;60(1):129–135. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Shortridge K. F., Cherry A., Kendal A. P. Further studies of the antigenic properties of H3N2 strains of influenza A isolated from swine in South East Asia. J Gen Virol. 1979 Jul;44(1):251–254. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-44-1-251. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Shortridge K. F. H2N2 influenza viruses in domestic ducks. Lancet. 1979 Feb 24;1(8113):439–439. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(79)90911-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Shortridge K. F., King A. P., Webster R. G. Monoclonal antibodies for characterizing H3N2 influenza viruses that persist in pigs in China. J Infect Dis. 1987 Mar;155(3):577–581. doi: 10.1093/infdis/155.3.577. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Shortridge K. F. Pandemic influenza: a zoonosis? Semin Respir Infect. 1992 Mar;7(1):11–25. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Shortridge K. F., Stuart-Harris C. H. An influenza epicentre? Lancet. 1982 Oct 9;2(8302):812–813. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(82)92693-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Shortridge K. F. The next pandemic influenza virus? Lancet. 1995 Nov 4;346(8984):1210–1212. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(95)92906-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Shortridge K. F., Webster R. G., Butterfield W. K., Campbell C. H. Persistence of Hong Kong influenza virus variants in pigs. Science. 1977 Jun 24;196(4297):1454–1455. doi: 10.1126/science.867041. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Shu L. L., Lin Y. P., Wright S. M., Shortridge K. F., Webster R. G. Evidence for interspecies transmission and reassortment of influenza A viruses in pigs in southern China. Virology. 1994 Aug 1;202(2):825–833. doi: 10.1006/viro.1994.1404. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Wentworth D. E., Thompson B. L., Xu X., Regnery H. L., Cooley A. J., McGregor M. W., Cox N. J., Hinshaw V. S. An influenza A (H1N1) virus, closely related to swine influenza virus, responsible for a fatal case of human influenza. J Virol. 1994 Apr;68(4):2051–2058. doi: 10.1128/jvi.68.4.2051-2058.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Virology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES