PAKISTAN VETERINARY JOURNAL

Pak Vet J, 2001, 21(2): 87-91

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AVIAN INFLUENZA (H₉N₂) VIRUS FROM AN OUTBREAK AT POULTRY FARMS IN KARACHI

Mohammad A. Muneer, Ali Mohammad Bahram, Zahid Munir, I. Hussain, K. Muhammad, Masood Rabbani, S. Akhtar, M. Aleem, Bakht Sultan¹, MunirA. Tariq and K. Naeem²

Microbiology Section, College of Veterinary Sciences, Lahore, ¹Grand Parent Poultry Laboratory, Shadman, Lahore, ²Microbiology Laboratory, Animal Sciences Institute, NARC, Islamabad, Pakistan

Abstract

Avian influenza virus (AIV) type H9 N2 was isolated from poultry flocks which were suffering from acute respiratory illness in Karachi area. High haemagglutination inhibition (HI) titers against AIV virus type H9N2, ranging from 6.38 to 7.81, in the convalescent sera of birds were demonstrated. The infected flocks had mortality between 30 to 80 per cent. Those flocks also had considerable of HI titres against infectious bronchitis (IB) virus stains D274 and D1466, against which they were never vaccinated. It is believed that AI H9 N2 virus in collaboration with IBV and some unidentified bacterial species caused high mortality in the infected flocks.

Key words: Avian influenza, Haemagglutination inhibition, Karachi.

Abstract

ISSN 0253-8318 (Print)ISSN 2074-7764 (Online)

ISSN 0253-8318 (Print)
ISSN 2074-7764 (Online)