Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) H5N1 has been isolated from many diverse species in Egypt. Here, we characterized the pathogenesis of a HPAI H5N1 isolated from naturally infected pigeons in Japanese quails. Our results showed that the pigeon virus was very pathogenic to quails; killing them within two days of intranasal inoculation. Further, phylogenetic analysis showed that the pigeon derived virus and the quail-derived viruses were close to viruses circulating in china and they segregated far from each other.
Key words: H5N1, pigeon, Japanese quail, Egypt
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