Prevalence of Antibodies to H9N2 Avian Influenza Virus in Backyard
Chickens around
Maharlou
Lake
in
Iran
Mohammad Mehdi Hadipour*, Gholamhossein Habibi and Amir Vosoughi
Department of Clinical Sciences,
School
of
Veterinary Medicine,
Islamic
Azad
University,
Kazerun Branch,
Kazerun,
Iran
*Corresponding Author: hadipourmm@yahoo.com
Abstract
Backyard chickens play an important role in the epidemiology of H9N2 avian
influenza virus infection. Close contact of backyard chickens with migratory
birds, especially with aquatic birds, as well as neighboring poultry farms, may
pose the risk of transmitting avian influenza virus, but little is known about
the disease status of backyard poultry. A H9N2 avian influenza virus
seroprevalence survey was carried out in 500 backyard chickens from villages
around Maharlou lake in
Iran,
using the hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test. The studied backyard chickens
had not been previously vaccinated and showed no clinical signs of disease. The
overall HI titer and seroprevalence against H9N2 were 7.73 and 81.6%,
respectively.