PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
The study involved five ferrets from one household in Poland, comprising three sick 9-week-old juveniles, their healthy mother, and another clinically normal adult, admitted to the veterinary clinic in June 2023. The juvenile ferrets displayed significant lethargy and a pronounced unwillingness to move with accompanying pulmonary distress. Prompted by concurrent outbreaks of A/H5N1 influenza virus infections in Polish cats, point-of-care tests were conducted that revealed type A influenza antigens in the throat swabs of all five ferrets. Despite treatment, one juvenile ferret exhibited dyspnea and neurological symptoms and eventually died. The two remaining ferrets recovered fully, including one severely affected showing persistent dyspnea and incoordination without fever that recovered after 11 days of treatment. In the RT-qPCR, the throat swabs collected from all surviving ferrets as well as the samples of lungs, trachea, heart, brain, pancreas, liver, and intestine of the succumbed ferret were found positive for A/H5N1 virus RNA. To our best knowledge, this is the first documented natural A/H5N1 avian influenza in domestic ferrets kept as pets. In addition, this outbreak suggests the possibility of asymptomatic A/H5N1 virus shedding by ferrets, highlighting their zoonotic potential and the advisability of excluding fresh or frozen poultry from their diet to reduce the A/H5N1 virus transmission risks.
摘要：
这项研究涉及来自波兰一个家庭的五只雪貂，包括三个生病的9周大的青少年，他们健康的母亲，和另一个临床正常的成年人，2023年6月进入兽医诊所。幼年的雪貂表现出明显的嗜睡，并且明显不愿移动并伴有肺窘迫。波兰猫同时爆发A/H5N1流感病毒感染，进行了即时测试，发现所有5个雪貂的咽拭子中存在A型流感抗原。尽管治疗,一只幼年雪貂表现出呼吸困难和神经系统症状，最终死亡。剩下的两只雪貂完全康复了,包括1例严重患者，表现为持续性呼吸困难和无发热协调，治疗11天后恢复。在RT-qPCR中,从所有幸存的雪貂身上收集的咽拭子以及肺部样本，气管,心,大脑,胰腺,肝脏,发现死亡雪貂的肠道对A/H5N1病毒RNA呈阳性。据我们所知，这是首次在家养的雪貂中记录的自然A/H5N1禽流感。此外,这次爆发表明无症状的A/H5N1病毒可能由雪貂脱落，强调它们的人畜共患潜力，以及从饮食中排除新鲜或冷冻家禽以降低A/H5N1病毒传播风险的可取性。
