| Abstrakt: |
In the autumn of 1979 a severe influenza epizootic started among camels in Mongolia (Lvov et al., 1982; Viprosi Virusol.27, 401-405.) Between 1980 and 1983 13 independent isolates of H1N1 viruses were obtained from diseased camels, which were virtually indistinguishable from the human A/USSR/90/77 strain by serological means. Two hundred and seventy-one samples of camel sera collected between 1978 and 1983 contained antibodies against the human A/USSR/90/77 isolate. After experimental infection of camels with some of these isolates, the animals developed similar symptoms as those found during natural infection: coughing, bronchitis, fever, discharge from nose and eyes. A genetic sequence analysis revealed that among the eight segments (genes) the PB1, HA, and NA genes were almost identical with allelic genes of the USSR/77 strain, and the PB2, PA, NP, M, and NS genes were almost identical with those of the A/PR/8/34 strain. |
