Pathogenesis of human infected H7N9 subtype virus:a brief review

Abstract

The outbreak of avian influenza A virus subtype H7N9 in humans in China has aroused our attention to low pathogenic avian influenza(LPAI) viruses recently.Although the transmission of avian influenza from birds to humans has proved to be sporadic,the mortality of infected humans is very high.No specific vaccine has been produced to prevent avian influenza which means that we still have a long way to cure and/or eliminate the disease.We review the pathogenicity of H7 and H7N9 subtype viruses,the mechanisms of how H7N9 subtype virus infect humans and its molecular pathogenesis of transformation from low pathogenic avian influenza viruses to highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses,in order to understand the pathogenesis of H7N9 avian influenza viruses. Key words: H7N9 ; Avian influenza; Pathogenesis