The 1999-2000 avian influenza (H7N1) epidemic in Italy

摘要

North-eastern Italy has been affected by a devastating epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), caused by a type A influenza virus of the H7N1 subtype that originated from the mutation of a low-pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI) virus of the same subtype. The LPAI epidemic and the subsequent HPAI epidemic occurred in the Veneto and Lombardia regions, which raise 65% of Italy's commercial poultry. The HPAI epidemic resulted directly or indirectly in the death or culling of over 13 million birds, which inevitably resulted in the disruption of the marketing system and great economic losses to the poultry industry and social community. Following depopulation and restocking of the HPAI-infected areas, LPAI re-emerged, thus causing the poultry industry to demand and obtain the option to vaccinate against avian influenza of the H7 subtype.