Surveillance of Influenza A/ H5, H7, H9 Viral Subtypes in Domestic and Wild Birds at Many Geographical Regions of Iraq

Background: Influenza A viruses are zoonotic agents, capable of crossing the species barriers. Nowadays, they still con¬stitute a great challenge worldwide. The natural reser¬voir of all influenza A viruses are wild bird particularly water fowl, de¬spite the fact they have been isolated from a number of avian and mammalian species, including humans. Methods: Nasal swab or fresh tracheal swab in case of dead bird was taken from 141 broiler chickens suffering from respiratory signs, 139 of local chickens and 109 of wild birds from many regions in Iraq, advance molecular technique, Reverse Transcription Real Time PCR (RT- qPCR) was done to investigate the presence of the most important viral subtypes (H5, H7, H9). Results: Influenza A virus was found in 63.1% of the commercial broiler chickens with respiratory signs, in 4.31% of local chickens and in 6.42% of the wild birds; subtype H9 was present in all positive samples (100%) that collected from both commercial broiler chickens and the local chickens besides to 57.14% of the positive samples in wild birds, subtypes H5 was recorded in 42.85 % of the positive samples in wild birds, where as H7 subtype not found in this study. Conclusions: The study has demonstrated the occurrence of influenza A viruses in the wild birds as well as the domestic chickens in Iraq in addition to public health importance of AIV; according to our knowledge, this research is the first that recorded presence of H5 subtype in poultry at our country.