28.12.2016

Emerging Microbes & Infections (2016)

On 12 April 2016, a 3-year-old male lion died in Ezhou zoo, Hubei province, China. Clinical symptoms include droopiness and anorexia several days before death, and no improvement was observed after symptomatic treatment. The body temperature of the lion, measured the night before its death, was 38.8 °C–38.9 °C.
Necropsy findings included severe congestion and edema in the lungs, slight intestinal bloating and red residual urine in the bladder.
Tissue samples tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza virus (AIV).The lion was fed with frozen chicken carcasses, and therefore the most plausible source of the infection might be chickens, which may have been contaminated by H5N1 AIV.