Are companion animals overlooked intermediate hosts for the cross-species transmission of influenza viruses?

Jiumeng Sun; Ningning Wang; Zhiwen Jiang; Dongyan Li; Jin Zhao; Xinxin Li; Lang Gong; Chang Zhang; Haijian He; Shuo Su; Guihong Zhang; Michael Veit

doi:10.1016/j.jinf.2022.12.005

Letter to the Editor| Volume 86, ISSUE 2, P154-225, February 2023

Are companion animals overlooked intermediate hosts for the cross-species transmission of influenza viruses?

Jiumeng Sun ¹
Author Footnotes
1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
Jiumeng Sun
Footnotes
1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
Affiliations
Sanya Institute of Nanjing Agricultural University, Sanya, China
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Ningning Wang ¹
Author Footnotes
1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
Ningning Wang
Footnotes
1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
Affiliations
Sanya Institute of Nanjing Agricultural University, Sanya, China
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Zhiwen Jiang ¹
Author Footnotes
1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
Zhiwen Jiang
Footnotes
1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
Affiliations
Sanya Institute of Nanjing Agricultural University, Sanya, China
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Dongyan Li ¹
Author Footnotes
1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
Dongyan Li
Footnotes
1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
Affiliations
Sanya Institute of Nanjing Agricultural University, Sanya, China
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Jin Zhao
Jin Zhao
Affiliations
Sanya Institute of Nanjing Agricultural University, Sanya, China
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Xinxin Li
Xinxin Li
Affiliations
Sanya Institute of Nanjing Agricultural University, Sanya, China
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Lang Gong
Lang Gong
Affiliations
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Prevention and Control, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
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Chang Zhang
Chang Zhang
Affiliations
Sanya Institute of Nanjing Agricultural University, Sanya, China
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Haijian He
Haijian He
Affiliations
Agricultural College, Jinhua Polytechnic, Jinhua 320017, China
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Shuo Su
Shuo Su
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Corresponding authors.
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Sanya Institute of Nanjing Agricultural University, Sanya, China
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Guihong Zhang
Guihong Zhang
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Corresponding authors.
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Affiliations
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Prevention and Control, College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China
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Michael Veit
Michael Veit
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Corresponding authors.
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Institute for Virology, Center for Infection Medicine, Veterinary Faculty, Free University Berlin, Germany
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1 These authors contributed equally to this work.

Published:December 11, 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2022.12.005

In 2022, a boy with influenza-like symptoms was found to be infected with a novel H3N8 avian influenza virus in Henan province.

¹

Cheng D.
Dong Y.
Wen S.
Shi C.

A child with acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by avian influenza H3N8 virus.

^,

²

Li P.
Niu M.
Li Y.
Xu M.
Zhao T.
Cao X.
et al.

Human infection with H3N8 avian influenza virus: a novel H9N2-original reassortment virus.

Google Scholar

^,

³

Yang R.
Sun H.
Gao F.
Luo K.
Huang Z.
Tong Q.
et al.

Human infection of avian influenza A H3N8 virus and the viral origins: a descriptive study.

^,

⁴

Bao P.
Liu Y.
Zhang X.
Fan H.
Zhao J.
Mu M.
et al.

Human infection with a reassortment avian influenza A H3N8 virus: an epidemiological investigation study.

Subsequently, in May 2022 H3N8 avian influenza virus caused a second human infection in Hunan province. The H3N8 human viruses originated from chickens

³

Yang R.
Sun H.
Gao F.
Luo K.
Huang Z.
Tong Q.
et al.

Human infection of avian influenza A H3N8 virus and the viral origins: a descriptive study.

^,

⁵

Bi Y.
Li J.
Shi W.

The time is now: a call to contain H9N2 avian influenza viruses.

, but its RNA was also detected in nasopharyngeal swabs of cats and dogs and environmental samples collected in the patient's house.

⁴

Bao P.
Liu Y.
Zhang X.
Fan H.
Zhao J.
Mu M.
et al.

Human infection with a reassortment avian influenza A H3N8 virus: an epidemiological investigation study.

Of note, the full-length HA sequences from pets and human patients were identical, but revealed differences to avian H3N8 suggesting adaption to mammalian hosts. In addition, a veterinarian was infected with a low pathogenic avian influenza virus H7N2 in 2016 while collecting samples from an influenza outbreak at a cat shelter in New York City.

⁶

Lee C.T.
Slavinski S.
Schiff C.
Merlino M.
Daskalakis D.
Liu D.
et al.

Outbreak of influenza A(H7N2) among cats in an animal shelter with cat-to-human transmission-New York city, 2016.

This indicates that companion animals might be previously overlooked intermediate hosts for the cross-species transmission of influenza viruses to humans, emphasizing that monitoring influenza virus in pets and analyzing mutations for mammalian adaptation is of great importance for public health.

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Published online: December 11, 2022

Accepted: December 8, 2022

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2022.12.005

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Are companion animals overlooked intermediate hosts for the cross-species transmission of influenza viruses?

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