- Academic Editor
-
-
-
Background: Highly pathogenic H5Nx viruses cause avian influenza, a
zoonotic disease that can infect humans. The vaccine can facilitate the
prevention of human infections from infected poultry. Our previous study showed
that an H5 cleavage-site peptide vaccine containing the polybasic amino acid RRRK
could protect chickens from lethal infections of the highly pathogenic H5N6 avian
influenza virus. Methods: Chickens immunized with the various polybasic
amino combinations (RRRK, RRR, RR, R, RK, and K) of H5 cleavage-site peptides
were challenged with highly pathogenic H5N6 avian influenza viruses. The
challenged chickens were monitored for survival rate, and viral titers in swabs
and tissue samples were measured in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells using
the median tissue culture infectious dose 50 (log