Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses of the H5N1 strain pose a pandemic threat. H5N1 strain virus is extremely lethal and contagious for poultry. Even though mortality is 59% in infected humans, these viruses do not spread efficiently between humans. In 1997, an outbreak of H5N1 strain with human cases occurred in Hong Kong. This event highlighted the need for rapid identification and subtyping of influenza A viruses (IAV), not only to facilitate surveillance of the pandemic potential of avian IAV, but also to improve the control and treatment of infected patients. Molecular diagnosis has played a key role in the detection and typing of IAV in recent years, spurred by rapid advances in technologies for detection and characterization of viral RNAs and proteins. Such technologies, which include immunochromatography, quantitative real-time PCR, super high-speed real-time PCR, and isothermal DNA amplification, are expected to contribute to faster and easier diagnosis and typing of IAV.
Keywords: highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1; influenza virus; molecular diagnosis.