Potential for transmission of naturally mutated H10N1 avian influenza virus to mammalian hosts and causing severe pulmonary disease

Mark Zanin; Tran Bac Le; Woonsung Na; Jung-Ah Kang; Hyung-Jun Kwon; Jaehyun Hwang; Eul Hae Ga; Sook-San Wong; Hae-Jin Cho; Daesub Song; Hye Kwon Kim; Dae Gwin Jeong; Sun-Woo Yoon

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1256090

Potential for transmission of naturally mutated H10N1 avian influenza virus to mammalian hosts and causing severe pulmonary disease

Front Microbiol. 2023 Sep 12:14:1256090. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1256090. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Mark Zanin^#¹, Tran Bac Le^#², Woonsung Na^#³, Jung-Ah Kang², Hyung-Jun Kwon³, Jaehyun Hwang³, Eul Hae Ga³, Sook-San Wong¹, Hae-Jin Cho⁴, Daesub Song⁵, Hye Kwon Kim⁶, Dae Gwin Jeong², Sun-Woo Yoon^{2

7}

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
² Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
³ College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Korea Institute of Environment Ecology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
⁵ College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Department of Microbiology, College of Natural Sciences, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Republic of Korea.
⁷ Department of Vaccine Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences and Health Welfare, Andong National University, Andong, Republic of Korea.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Subtype H10 avian influenza viruses (AIV) are distributed worldwide in wild aquatic birds, and can infect humans and several other mammalian species. In the present study, we investigated the naturally mutated PB2 gene in A/aquatic bird/South Korea/SW1/2018 (A/SW1/18, H10N1), isolated from wild birds during the 2018-2019 winter season. This virus was originally found in South Korea, and is similar to isolates from mainland China and Mongolia. It had low pathogenicity, lacked a multi-basic cleavage site, and showed a binding preference for α2,3-linked sialic acids. However, it can infect mice, causing severe disease and lung pathology. SW1 was also transmitted by direct contact in ferrets, and replicated in the respiratory tract tissue, with no evidence of extrapulmonary spread. The pathogenicity and transmissibility of SW1 in mouse and ferret models were similar to those of the pandemic strain A/California/04/2009 (A/CA/04, H1N1). These factors suggest that subtype H10 AIVs have zoonotic potential and may transmit from human to human, thereby posing a potential threat to public health. Therefore, the study highlights the urgent need for closer monitoring of subtype H10 AIVs through continued surveillance of wild aquatic birds.

Keywords: H10N1; avian influenza; ferret model; transmission; wild bird; zoonosis.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by grants of the KRIBB Initiative program, supported by the BioNano Health-Guard Research Center funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) of Korea as Global Frontier Project (Grant No. H-GUARD 2013M3A6B2078954), and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (No. 2020R1A2C2009262), and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2021M3A91208049511). The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.