International Journal of Poultry Science 6 (3): 207-210, 2007 ISSN 1682-8356 © Asian Network for Scientific Information, 2007 207 The Effect of Egg-Derived Antibody on Prevention of Avian Influenza Subtype H N in Layer Chicken 9 2 Shaban Rahimi , Ehsan Salehifar , Seyed Ali Ghorashi , 1 1 2 Jesse L. Grimes and Mohammad A. Kaimi Torshizi 3 1 Department of Poultry Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran 1 National Research Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology of Iran, Tehran, Iran 2 Department of Poultry Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC, USA 3 Abstract: Avian Influenza (AI) is a contagious disease of poultry which caused by type A influenza virus. In the present outbreak of AI in Iran, the isolates (H N ) were characterized as a low pathogenic form of the 9 2 virus. Outbreaks due to H N subtypes have been reported in many countries. Because the common 9 2 methods of control of outbreaks of AI may not be very effective to prevent and control of this disease, we decided to study the effect of egg derived antibody on reducing morbidity and spread of virus in a population of chickens by using so-called transmission experiments. Birds in test group (which received antibody in drinking water) had lower morbidity (p<0.05) and virus shedding compared to the control group. Our experiments demonstrate that administration of egg derived antibody (Ab) to chickens, not only may protect birds against this disease but is also an effective strategy to reduce transmission of AI virus. Therefore, egg derived specific antibody can be an attractive tool to prevent outbreaks of AI viruses in poultry, thereby achieving the aim of eliminating the source of human infections. Key words: Avian influenza, antibody, egg, layer chicken Introduction Avian Influenza (AI) is caused by viruses of the influenza A genus of the family Orthomyxoviridae (Saif et al., 2003). At present sixteen hemagglutinin subtype (H1-H16) and nine neuraminidase subtype (N1-N9) of influenza A viruses have been recognized (Britta et al., 2005). Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is a viral disease of poultry caused by H5 or H7 AI A strains, with mortality that ranges up to 100%. The number of outbreaks in the last few years has been unprecedented: Hong Kong (Claas et al., 1998), Italy (Capua and Marangon, 2000), Chile (Suarez et al., 2004), the Netherlands (Stegeman et al., 2004), Canada (Bowes et al., 2004) and the continuing outbreaks in Southeast Asia (Li et al., 2004). Aside from causing havoc in poultry, it is becoming an increasing concern that certain HPAI viruses have the potential to directly cross the human-bird species barrier and may become a pandemic threat (Li et al., 2004; Materials and Methods Fouchier et al., 2004). In the present outbreak of H N AI Experiment 1 9 2 in Iran, the isolates were characterized in the laboratory Animals: Twenty Commercial Single Comb White as of low pathogenic (Vasfi Marandi and Leghorn chickens were divided in two groups. Birds in Bozorgmehrifard, 1999). While investigating the transfer the test group were hyper immunized with 0.5 mL of an of H5N1 influenza virus from chicken to man in the Hong inactivated oil emulsion vaccine (H N ) for four times at Kong outbreak of 1997, it was revealed that high interval of 2 weeks in pectoral muscle (the vaccine was homology exists between the internal gene of H N and obtained from Razi Research Institute of Vaccine and 9 2 H6N1 and furthermore, these subtypes were found to Serum Production in Iran). The control group also exchange their internal genes and are therefore a received 0.5 mL of sterile PBS as the same way. potential source of new pathogenic influenza virus strains capable of infecting humans (Zhou et al., 1999). Hi assay: The antibody was tested by Hemagglutination To reduce the primary risk of human HPAI infection, it is Inhibition test (HI) in serum and egg yolk in both groups. crucial to prevent infection of poultry. Common methods to control outbreaks of HPAI are the depopulation of infected poultry, preemptive culling, biosecurity measures and vaccination. An ideal way to control AI should reduce the spread of virus between animals in a flock and, subsequently, the spread of virus between flocks to such an extent that a major outbreak will not occur. We studied the effect of egg derived antibody on the spread of virus in a population of chickens by using so-called transmission experiments. The purpose of this research, was 1) Production and isolation of avian influenza antibodies from the egg yolk, 2) to determine if infection by avian influenza can be prevented in layer chicken using oral egg-derived (Ab) recovered from hyper immunized chickens. 9 2