| dc.description.abstract | Background: Avian influenza viruses may cause severe disease in a variety of domestic animal species worldwide,
with high mortality in chickens and turkeys. To reduce the information gap about prevalence of these viruses in
animals in Uganda, this study was undertaken.
Results: Influenza A virus prevalence by RT-PCR was 1.1% (45/4,052) while seroprevalence by ELISA was 0.8%
(24/2,970). Virus prevalence was highest in domestic ducks (2.7%, 17/629) and turkeys (2.6%, 2/76), followed by
free-living waterfowl (1.3%, 12/929) and swine (1.4%, 7/511). A lower proportion of chicken samples (0.4%, 7/1,865)
tested positive. No influenza A virus was isolated. A seasonal prevalence of these viruses in waterfowl was 0.7%
(4/561) for the dry and 2.2% (8/368) for the wet season. In poultry, prevalence was 0.2% (2/863) for the dry and
1.4% (24/1,713) for the wet season, while that of swine was 0.0% (0/159) and 2.0% (7/352) in the two seasons,
respectively. Of the 45 RT-PCR positive samples, 13 (28.9%) of them were H5 but none was H7. The 19 swine sera
positive for influenza antibodies by ELISA were positive for H1 antibodies by HAI assay, but the subtype(s) of ELISA
positive poultry sera could not be determined. Antibodies in the poultry sera could have been those against
subtypes not included in the HAI test panel.
Conclusions: The study has demonstrated occurrence of influenza A viruses in animals in Uganda. The results
suggest that increase in volumes of migratory waterfowl in the country could be associated with increased
prevalence of these viruses in free-living waterfowl and poultry. | en_US |
