Risk of Environmental Exposure to H7N9 Influenza Virus via Airborne and Surface Routes in a Live Poultry Market in Hebei, China
Cheng Zhang, Kangkang Guo, Huan Cui, Ligong Chen, Chunmao Zhang, Xuejing Wang, Jiaming Li, Yingying Fu, Zhongyi Wang, Zhendong Guo, Juxiang Liu, Shishan Dong
Abstract
Environmental transmission of viruses to humans has become an early warning for potential epidemic outbreaks, such as SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus outbreaks. Recently, an H7N9 virus, A/environment/Hebei/621/2019 (H7N9), was isolated by environmental swabs from a live poultry market in Hebei, China. We found that this isolate could be transmitted by direct contact and aerosol in mammals. More importantly, after 5 passages in mice, the virus acquired two adaptive mutations, PB1-H115Q and B2-E627K, exhibiting increased virulence and aerosol transmissibility. These results suggest that this H7N9 virus might potentially be transmitted between humans through environmental or airborne routes.