Characterization of an avian influenza virus H9N2 strain isolated from a wild bird in southern China

Abstract

We isolated an avian influenza virus H9N2 strain from a wild bird in the Guangxi Province of southern China in 2013 named A/turtledove/Guangxi/49B6/2013(H9N2) (GX49B6). We aimed to understand the genetic characters of the GX49B6 strain by analyzing the complete genome sequence. The results showed that our isolated strain has features of low pathogenic avian influenza viruses and viruses that infect humans. The discovery of the complete genome sequence of the GX49B6 strain may be helpful to further the understanding of the epidemiology and surveillance of avian influenza viruses in the field.