Infectivity of H7 LP and HP influenza viruses at different temperatures and pH and persistence of H7 HP virus in poultry meat at refrigeration temperature

The aims of this study were to assess the infectivity of highly pathogenic (HP) and low pathogenicity (LP) H7 AI viruses at different temperatures and pH values and to investigate the persistance of HP H7 virus in chicken, turkey and duck meat. The H7 viruses tested remained infectious at +4 °C and +20 °C for 200 and >50 days, respectively. At pH 5, H7 viruses retained their infectivity for a shorter period of time compared to pH 7. The infectivity of HP H7 was detected >2 months in meat maintained at +4 °C and was higher in chicken meat compared to turkey and duck meat. Results of this study show that higher temperatures and lower pH values both reduce virus infectivity and demonstrate that HP H7 virus can remain infectious in meat for extended periods of time.