• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.185-190
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• 2007

Objectives : Since the first human infection from avian influenza was reported in Hong Kong in 1997, many Asian countries have confirmed outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza viruses. In addition to Asian countries, the EU authorities also held an urgent meeting in February 2006 at which it was agreed that Europe could also become the next target for H5N1 avian influenza in the near future. In this paper, we provide the general and applicable information on the avian influenza in the bioinformatics field to assist future studies in preventive medicine. Methods : We introduced some up-to-date analytical tools in bioinformatics research, and discussed the current trends of avian influenza outbreaks. Among the bioinformatics methods, we focused our interests on two topics: pattern analysis using the secondary database of avian influenza, and structural analysis using the molecular dynamics simulations in vaccine design. Results : Use of the public genome databases available in the bioinformatics field enabled intensive analysis of the genetic patterns. Moreover, molecular dynamic simulations have also undergone remarkable development on the basis of the high performance supercomputing infrastructure these days. Conclusions : The bioinformatics techniques we introduced in this study may be useful in preventive medicine, especially in vaccine and drug discovery.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.167-171
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• 2020

The epidemiological investigation of outbreak in korea confirmed that the inflow of avian influenza (AI) is related to the migration of migratory birds. In this study, avian repellents instrument were implemented and developed using the visual effects of lasers in accordance with the situation of small domestic fowl farms, and monitoring cameras were installed around each instrument to investigate the frequency of wild birds appearing and evaluate the performance of the instrument. Observation showed that the appreance ratio was reduced by 95%, and no significant reduction in the intrusion prevention effect by adaptation was observed on all fowl farms. In conclusion, it is expected that the outbreak of wild bird-borne infectious diseases such as avian influenza will be decreased if the device is installed on domestic fowl farms.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2019

While research findings suggest that the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is the leading cause of economic loss in Korean poultry industry with an estimated cumulative impact of $909 million since 2003, identifying the environmental and anthropogenic risk factors involved remains a challenge. The objective of this study was to identify areas at high risk for potential HPAI outbreaks according to the likelihood of HPAI virus detection in wild birds. This study integrates spatial information regarding HPAI surveillance with relevant demographic and environmental factors collected between 2003 and 2018. The Maximum Entropy (Maxent) species distribution modeling with presence-only data was used to model the spatial risk of HPAI virus. We used historical data on HPAI occurrence in wild birds during the period 2003-2018, collected by the National Quarantine Inspection Agency of Korea. The database contains a total of 1,065 HPAI cases (farms) tied to 168 unique locations for wild birds. Among the environmental variables, the most effective predictors of the potential distribution of HPAI in wild birds were (in order of importance) altitude, number of HPAI outbreaks at farm-level, daily amount of manure processed and number of wild birds migrated into Korea. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the 10 Maxent replicate runs of the model with twelve variables was 0.855 with a standard deviation of 0.012 which indicates that the model performance was excellent. Results revealed that geographic area at risk of HPAI is heterogeneously distributed throughout the country with higher likelihood in the west and coastal areas. The results may help biosecurity authority to design risk-based surveillance and implementation of control interventions optimized for the areas at highest risk of HPAI outbreak potentials.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.43.1-43.10
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• 2021

Background: The H5 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) of clade 2.3.4.4 circulate in wild and domestic birds worldwide. In 2017, nine strains of H5N6 AIVs were isolated from aquatic poultry in Xinjiang, Northwest China. Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the origin, reassortment, and mutations of the AIV isolates. Methods: AIVs were isolated from oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs of poultry. Identification was accomplished by inoculating isolates into embryonated chicken eggs and performing hemagglutination tests and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The viral genomes were amplified with RT-PCR and then sequenced. The sequence alignment, phylogenetic, and molecular characteristic analyses were performed by using bioinformatic software. Results: Nine isolates originated from the same ancestor. The viral HA gene belonged to clade 2.3.4.4B, while the NA gene had a close phylogenetic relationship with the 2.3.4.4C H5N6 highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIVs) isolated from shoveler ducks in Ningxia in 2015. The NP gene was grouped into an independent subcluster within the 2.3.4.4B H5N8 AIVs, and the remaining six genes all had close phylogenetic relationships with the 2.3.4.4B H5N8 HPAIVs isolated from the wild birds in China, Egypt, Uganda, Cameroon, and India in 2016-2017, Multiple basic amino acid residues associated with HPAIVs were located adjacent to the cleavage site of the HA protein. The nine isolates comprised reassortant 2.3.4.4B HPAIVs originating from 2.3.4.4B H5N8 and 2.3.4.4C H5N6 viruses in wild birds. Conclusions: These results suggest that the Northern Tianshan Mountain wetlands in Xinjiang may have a key role in AIVs disseminating from Central China to the Eurasian continent and East African.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.254-265
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• 2018

Avian influenza recently damaged the poultry industry, which suffered a huge economic loss reaching billions of U.S. dollars in South Korea. Transmission routes of the pathogens would help plan to control and limit the spread of the devastating biological tragedy. Phylogenetic analyses of pathogen's DNA sequences could sketch transmission trees relating hosts with directed edges. The last decade has seen the methodological development of inferring transmission trees using epidemiological as well as genetic data. Here, I reanalyzed the DNA sequence data that had originated in the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8 outbreak of South Korea in 2014. The H5N8 viruses spread geographically contiguously from the origin of the outbreak, Jeonbuk. The Jeonbuk origin viruses were known to spread to four provinces neighboring Jeonbuk. I estimated the transmission tree of the host domestic and migratory wild birds after combining multiple runs of Markov chain Monte Carlo using a Bayesian method for inferring transmission trees. The estimated transmission tree, albeit with a rather large uncertainty in the directed edges, showed that the viruses spread from Jeonbuk through Chungnam to Gyeonggi. Domestic birds of breeder or broiler ducks were estimated to appear to be at the terminal nodes of the transmission tree. This observation confirmed that migratory wild birds played an important role as one of the main infection mediators in the avian influenza H5N8 outbreak of South Korea in 2014.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.5.1-5.5
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• 2020

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses have caused severe respiratory disease and death in poultry and human beings. Although most of the avian influenza viruses (AIVs) are of low pathogenicity and cause mild infections in birds, some subtypes including hemagglutinin H5 and H7 subtype cause HPAI. Therefore, sensitive and accurate subtyping of AIV is important to prepare and prevent for the spread of HPAI. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) can analyze the full-length sequence information of entire AIV genome at once, so this technology is becoming a more common in detecting AIVs and predicting subtypes. However, an analysis pipeline of NGS-based AIV sequencing data, including AIV subtyping, has not yet been established. Here, in order to support the pre-processing of NGS data and its interpretation, we developed a user-friendly tool, named prediction of avian influenza virus subtype (PAIVS). PAIVS has multiple functions that support the pre-processing of NGS data, reference-guided AIV subtyping, de novo assembly, variant calling and identifying the closest full-length sequences by BLAST, and provide the graphical summary to the end users.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.63 no.4
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• pp.41.1-41.6
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• 2023

Many viruses can infect different types of birds, with poultry being the most susceptible. These viral diseases have a direct negative impact on the poultry industry, with significant economic losses. This study examined a group of the most important viruses that infect backyard chickens in 2 specific areas of Basrah Governorate, south of Iraq. The study analyzed avian influenza viruses (AIVs), Newcastle disease virus (NDV), and infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). Two hundred and ninety oropharyngeal swabs, 150 from Abu Al-Khasib and 140 from Shatt Al-Arab regions in the Basrah governorate, were obtained from backyard chickens with clear respiratory signs. The samples were subjected to viral RNA extraction, and the viral nucleic acids were detected using a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction technique. The overall rate of viral infections was 74.8%, which varied depending on the type of virus: 15.8%, 31.3%, and 27.5% for AIV, NDV, and IBV, respectively. The NDV and IBV had much higher infection rates than that of AIV. In addition, the prevalence of AIV in the Shatt Al Arab district was significantly higher than in the Abul Khasib district. Moreover, there were no significant differences between the NDV and the IBV distributions in either of the targeted regions in this study.

• Journal of Multimedia Information System
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2018

We have developed an electromagnetic generator to bury in subcutaneous area or abdominal cavity of the birds. As we can't use a solar battery, it is extremely difficult to supply a power for subcutaneous implantation such as biosensors under the skin due to the darkness environment. We are aiming to test the antigen-antibody reaction to confirm an avian influenza. One solution is a very small generator with the electromagnetic induction coil. We attached the developed coil to chickens and pheasants and recorded the electric potential generated as the chicken walked and the pheasant flew. The electric potential generated with physical simulator is equal to or exceeds the 7 V peak-to-peak at maximum by 560/min of flapping of wings. Even if we account for the junction voltage of the diode (200 mV), efficient charging of the double-layer capacitor is possible with the voltage doubler rectifier. If we increase the voltage, other problems arise, including the high-voltage insulation of the double-layer capacitor. For this reason, we believe the power generated to be sufficient for subcutaneous area of birds. The efficiency, magnetic 2 mm in length and coil 15mm in length, if axial direction is rectified, the magnetic flux density given to the coil could calculated to 7.1 % and generated power average 0.47mW. The improvements in size and wire insulation are expected in the future.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.173-183
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• 2019

Based on their virulence, the avian influenza viruses (AIVs) are classified into two pathotypes: low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) virus and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus. Among the 16 HA subtypes of AIV, only the H5 and H7 subtypes are classified as HPAI. Some AIVs, including H5 and H7 viruses, can infect humans directly. Six H7 subtype isolates from wild birds of the H7N7 (n=4) and H7N1 (n=2) subtypes were characterized in this study. Phylogenetic analysis showed that eight viral genes (HA, NA, PB2, PB1, PA, NP, M, and NS) of the H7 isolates clustered in the Eurasian lineage, the genetic diversity of which is indicated by its division into several sublineages. The Korean H7 isolates had two motifs, PEIPKGR and PELPKGR, at the HA cleavage site, which have been associated with LPAI viruses. Six H7 isolates encoded glutamine (Q) and glycine (G) at positions 226 (H3 numbering) and 228 of HA, suggesting avian-type receptor-binding specificity. None of the Korean H7 isolates had the amino acid substitutions E627K in PB2 and I368V in PB1, which are critical for efficient replication in human cells. The Korean H7 isolates showed no deletions in the NA stalk region and in NS. These results suggest that the Korean H7 isolates from wild birds are different from the H7N9 influenza viruses isolated in China in 2013, which are capable of infecting humans.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.309-314
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• 2012

The study was undertaken to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of rapid Avian Influenza (AI) and Newcastle Disease virus (NDV) combo antigen kits from field samples of domestic (broiler and layer chicken, native chicken) and semi-domestic (duck, goose, pigeon and quail) birds of Bangladesh. Samples were collected from naturally infected AI suspected domestic and semi-domestic birds of five different outbreak areas in Bangladesh. From each area two birds were selected for sampling, and from each bird three types of samples (tracheal, cloacal and oro-nasal swabs) were collected. A total of 210 field samples from a total of 70 birds were collected and tested using AI and NDV combo antigen rapid diagnostic kits in the study. All three different samples from a bird showed similar pattern of reaction. Out of 210 samples, 15 samples (5 birds), 63 samples (21 birds) and 27 samples (9 birds) were positive for AIV, NDV and both for AIV and NDV, respectively; whereas the remaining birds were negative for either AIV or NDV in this screening test. Among the five AIV positive, a layer chicken from wet market in Mymensingh, Netrokona, Gibandha and Kurigram and a native chicken from wet market in Kurigram area was positive to AIV. The semi-domestic birds are either positive to NDV or free from both AIV and NDV. This study revealed that the AIV and NDV rapid diagnostic kits could be effectively use to diagnose the respective virus in trachea, oro-nasal and cloacal samples simultaneously. AIV-NDV combo Ag test result clearly indicates that the test kit designed for AIV and NDV could diagnose the disease rapidly with less effort and higher scientific know how which could be used for the detection of AIV and NDV using field samples in large scale.