The University of Hong Kong found the culprit of avian influenza

Introduction: the Department of zoology of the University of Hong Kong has found that H5N1 avian influenza, which has been a nuisance to Hong Kong chickens for many years, may be related to another kind of influenza that will not infect human beings, but can cause a great reduction in the resistance of chickens to infectious bursa disease virus (IBDV) According to the University of Hong Kong research, in 1997 and the eve of this year's outbreak of avian influenza, chickens were infected with IBDV and died in large numbers due to their inability to withstand the invasion of h5h1 virus Liang Zhiqing, Dean of the Faculty of science and associate professor of the Department of zoology at the University of Hong Kong, said that in the first half of 1997, the mortality rate of chickens caused by IBDV infection rose sharply from 2% to 5% of the normal level, and suddenly to 50%; but last summer, the mortality rate of chickens also rose abnormally, from 5% to 10%, to 30% to 40%, indicating that farms had been highly toxic before the outbreak of avian influenza Strong IBDV flu "patronize" Liang Zhiqing said that "IBDV" is similar to human cold and AIDS, the biggest threat is not the disease caused by the virus itself, but the virus will greatly reduce the immunity of chickens, when encountering a virus like H5N1 avian influenza, it can not resist IBD is one of the avian influenza diseases Although the virus will not infect the registration class, it has a very high transmission speed and infection rate in the chicken flocks Once there are chickens infected with IBD, the chickens in the same chicken farm can hardly survive It is understood that the H5N1 virus has a high mutation rate, and it is difficult to track due to its irregular appearance on the farm However, due to the long-term circulation of IBDV between farms, it can provide enough data for the production of the vaccine most suitable for the virus type at that time, and its epidemic prevention role should be very large After the outbreak of avian influenza in 1997, the research team of the University of Hong Kong actively followed Kam Tin, Yuen Long, to register a farm.