Special Focus Review

Influenza viruses: From birds to humans

Volume 8, Issue 1   January 2012
Pages 7 - 16
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/hv.8.1.18672
Keywords: avian, cross-species transmission, human, influenza, pathogenesis, zoonosis
Authors: Leslie A. Reperant, Thijs Kuiken and Albert D.M.E. Osterhaus

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Abstract:
Avian influenza viruses are the precursors of human influenza A viruses. They may be transmitted directly from avian reservoirs, or infect other mammalian species before subsequent transmission to their human host. So far, avian influenza viruses have caused sporadic—yet increasingly more frequently recognized—cases of infection in humans. They have to adapt to and circulate efficiently in human populations, before they may trigger a worldwide human influenza outbreak or pandemic. Cross-species transmission of avian influenza viruses from their reservoir hosts—wild waterbirds—to terrestrial poultry and to humans is based on different modes of transmission and results in distinctive pathogenetic manifestations, which are reviewed in this paper.

Received: October 27, 2011; Accepted: November 7, 2011

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