Table 2. Experimental design and clinical outcome of animal hosts exposed to airborne H5N1 HPAI viruses through simulated live-poultry market slaughter*.
| Virus | Intranasally infected birds processed (no.) | Duration of slaughter process, min | Naive exposed hosts (no.)† | Deaths of exposed hosts (mean time of death) | Virus detection in exposed hosts‡ | Seroconversion in surviving exposed hosts§ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mong/05 | Chickens (10) | 60 | Chickens (5) | 5/5 (4.4 dpe) | 5/5 at time of death¶ | NA |
| VN/04 | Chickens (10) | 60 | Chickens (5) | 5/5 (4.0 dpe) | 5/5 at time of death¶ | NA |
| VN/04 | Chickens (10) | 60 | Ferrets (4) | 3/4 (8.3 dpe) | 1/4 on 3 dpe (3.0)¶ | 0/1 |
| VN/04 | Ducks (5) | 30 | Ducks (5) | 0/5 | 5/5 (1.6) | 1/5 |
| VN/04 | Ducks (5) | 30 | Ferrets (3) | 0/3 | 0/3 | 0/3 |
*dpe, days postexposure; EID, mean egg infectious dose; Mong/05, A/whooper swan/Mongolia/244/2005; NA, not available; VN/04, A/Vietnam/1203/2004. †Exposed hosts placed 75–80 cm from the slaughter area. ‡No. positive/total no. Numbers in parentheses indicate mean virus titers (log10 EID50/mL) determined by virus isolation in embryonating chicken eggs from oral and cloacal swab samples of exposed poultry or by nasal wash samples of exposed ferrets. §Determined by hemagglutinin inhibition and virus neutralization tests when >12 dpe serum samples were available. ¶Virus antigen was detected by immunohistochemistry in tissues of 5/5 Mong/05-exposed chickens, 5/5 VN/04-exposed chickens, and 3/4 VN/04-exposed ferrets.