Serosurveillance to H9 and H7 Avian Influenza
Virus among Poultry Workers in
Punjab Province, Pakistan
Abdul Ahad§*, Masood Rabbani, Tahir
Yaqub, Muhammad Younus1, Altaf Mahmood2,
Muhammad Zubair Shabbir, Zahida Fatima2, Rana Khurram
Khalid and Majeeda Rasheed
Department of Microbiology, 1Department
of Pathology, 2Department of Epidemiology and Public
Health, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore,
Pakistan; §Also affiliated with Chittagong Veterinary &
Animal Sciences University, Bangladesh *Corresponding author:
ahadvet1969@yahoo.co.uk
Abstract
Among the different subtypes of avian influenza
virus (AIV) H9 and H7 are able to infect poultry and human. These viruses in
some countries has been isolated from the occupational hazard group of people
like veterinarian, poultry attendant and poultry retailers. The aim of this
study is to determine the seroprevalence of H9 and H7 AIV subtype in different
occupational people who are directly or indirectly involved with the poultry
industry. Antibodies to H9N2 and H7N7 avian influenza virus was measured by
modified horse RBC hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test using receptor
destroying enzyme (RDE) treated sera. Total 465 human sera samples were analyzed
who were directly exposed to poultry industry and 25 samples were taken as
control that was not exposed to poultry industry. The highest (85.7%)
seroprevalence against H9 was recorded in vaccinator and the lowest (30.4%) was
recorded in veterinarian. On district wise the highest (82.1%) seroprevalence
against H9 was observed in Toba Tek Singh district and the lowest (9.7%) was
observed in the Islamabad.
In case of H7 AIV subtype the highest (44.4%) seroprevalence was recorded in lab
technicians and the lowest seroprevalence (11.1%) was recorded in butcher. By
district wise the highest (57.9%) seroprevalence against H7 was recorded in
Haripur district and the lowest (4.6%) was recorded in Gujranwala district.