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When transforming from a traditional rural economy to a rapid marketization period, it is essential to consider the relationship between multiple shocks and household income in poor rural areas of China. Using two waves of a rural household surveys from six poor counties in China between 2015 and 2018, we examine the effect of multiple shocks on households' income and explore the heterogeneity of different shocks and households based on income. The multiple linear regression and quantile regression results demonstrate that multiple shocks negatively affect farm household income, and the range of impact is widening. Specifically, natural disaster shocks reduce the income of low-income households more, and unnatural disaster shocks reduce the income of middle–low-income farm households more. We conclude that illness within the family and lack of working household members are the primary shocks currently suffered by different types of farm households. In contrast to previous research, this study identifies middle–low-income farm households as most in need of attention and reveals that unnatural disaster shocks in poor rural areas of China are most in need of governance during recovery transitions. The findings enrich the existing theoretical system and provide policymakers with practical insights regarding differentiated and preemptive risk governance approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme weather events are among the main channels through which natural disaster shocks interact with poverty. Microlevel research regarding the effects of government support on poor rural households' resilience to natural disasters is beneficial for identifying complementarities between disaster mitigation and poverty alleviation. In contrast to previous research, this study directly explores the impact of government support on households' ability to resist natural disaster shocks in China in the context of multiple natural disasters. Using four waves of a rural household panel survey in six poor counties in China, this study applies PSM-DID and mediating effect models to explore the impact of government support on households' ability to resist natural disaster shocks. Four relevant emerge. (1) Government support could significantly reduce the probability of households suffering from natural disaster shocks and improve households' ability to resist natural disaster shocks. (2) Government support can increase households' ability to resist natural disaster shocks by raising non-farm income. (3) Government support primarily enhances resistance to natural disasters among poor and small rural households. (4) Government support has more significant effects in reducing the probability of households suffering from droughts and floods. We argue that government provision of targeted safety net programs to mitigate the effects of systemic natural hazards is crucial for establishing risk resilience for farm households, and the conditions for policy effectiveness must be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Solving China's severe energy problems relies on the efficient implementation of energy-related policies at the provincial level. On the context of 12th Five-Year Plan, most provinces’ energy developments are faced with the double pressures, that is, the rapid economy development and energy conservation. Thus, it is necessary to explore the scenarios of energy, economic and social development on the provincial level, especially in western developing provinces. This paper proposes a framework of economy and energy system including three major components: economy growth, population and energy intensity, to identify the regional energy balance and CO2 emission by 2015. With an application to Qinghai Province, policies related to energy development can be classified into three subcategories: economic and social development, energy development, and energy saving policies. Then, five scenarios are set and simulated to explore the energy balance and CO2 emission under the constraints of economic growth and energy intensity. Results show that in Qinghai, energy demands will increase by 90.37% in 2015 with a significant adjustment in industrial structure; and the implementation of the energy saving policies in Qinghai province is necessary. Besides, increasing production of clean energy can significantly reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and the environmental impact. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Considering flood vulnerability and resilience changes in 28 Chinese provinces. • Establishing detailed flood relative vulnerability and resilience evaluation index systems. • First applying a super efficiency SBM-DEA method to resilience assessment research. • Adding Flood disaster drivers and environmental factors to the assessment model. • Some suggestions are introduced to enhance flood disaster ability. China suffers frequent and severe floods that result in significant annual casualties and economic losses. However, as flood vulnerability and resilience varies in different regions and periods, it is vital that the temporal and spatial vulnerability and resilience characteristics are known to enable the government to make suitable arrangements for the distribution of relief funds and assist the regions to improve their disaster capabilities. Therefore, to reveal the relative vulnerability and resilience of the research object, this paper developed Chinese provincial scale flood vulnerability and resilience assessment models from an input-output perspective that accounted for socioeconomic, flood damage, flood driving and environmental factors. The Super-Efficiency Data Envelopment Analysis method was applied to the vulnerability assessment research and the Super-Efficiency Slacks-Based Measure Data Envelopment Analysis method was applied to the resilience assessment research. It was found that high vulnerability, high resilience provinces were mainly distributed in the eastern coastal areas, high vulnerability, low resilience provinces were mainly concentrated around the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, low vulnerability, high resilience provinces were mainly distributed in the western region, and low vulnerability, low resilience provinces were mainly in the southwest region. From 2012 to 2018, the relative flood vulnerability was "declining" in 36% of the provinces, even though they had been under pressure from rising GDP and population densities. It was also found that the annual precipitation as the driving factor had a significant impact on provincial flood vulnerabilities. The relative flood resilience from 2012 to 2018 was "rising-declining" in 39% of the provinces, had "almost no change" in 29%, and was rising in only 11%, which indicated that the relative flood resilience in many Chinese provinces still needs to be improved, with the recovery capacity of the power infrastructure in particular needing to be strengthened. Based on the spatiotemporal relative flood vulnerability and resilience variations in each province, some flood prevention and mitigation suggestions are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing increasingly severe longevity problems, traditional longevity risk management methods are no longer the final answer. Longevity risk securitization provides a good hedging method, which transfers the longevity risks to a wider capital market and realizes the cross-market transfer of risks. The pricing process of longevity derivatives depends on the underlying risk factors (stochastic processes of mortality and interest rate). We adopt an affine-jump-diffusion process to model the dynamics of mortality and estimate the model parameters with the actual mortality data in China. The measure implied by the annuity market price is chosen as the risk-neutral pricing measure. We use the Chinese annuity market price to calculate the concrete form of the measure transformation and use the risk-neutral pricing measure thereby to price the longevity bond designed by Denuit et al. (2007). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Carbapenem resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii in China was mainly mediated by OXA-23-like carbapenemases, while OXA-24/40-like carbapenemases were rarely identified. OXA-72 is one variant of OXA-24/40-like carbapenemases. This study aimed to demonstrate the epidemiology and characterizations of OXA-72-producing A. baumannii in a Chinese hospital.Methods: A total of 107 clinical A. calcoaceticus-A. baumannii (Acb) complex isolates were collected in a Chinese hospital during between 2014 and 2016. These isolates were identified using Vitek 2 system and gyrB multiplex PCR. Vitek 2 system was used for antibiotic susceptibility testing. Genes encoding for major classes of carbapenemases were investigated by PCR. Rep-PCR was used for genotyping of all the A. baumannii isolates. The risk factors for carriage of OXA-72-producing or OXA-23-producing A. baumannii were analyzed through univariate and multivariate logistic regression.Results: Of the 107 Acb isolates collected, 101 isolates (94.4%) and 6 isolates (5.6%) were identified as A. baumannii and A. pittii, respectively. 78 A. baumannii isolates (77.2%) were carbapenem resistant and mainly cultured from intensive care unit (ICU). blaOXA-72 and blaOXA-23 genes were identified in 45(57.7%) and 33(42.3%) carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii (CRAB), respectively. Multivariate risk factor analyses showed that prior carbapenem usage and nasogastric intubation were significantly associated with carriage of OXA-72-producing A. baumannii or OXA-23-producing A. baumannii. Rep-PCR analysis showed that 9 and 22 Rep-PCR types were assigned to 78 CRAB isolates and 23 carbapenem-susceptible A. baumannii (CSAB) isolates, respectively. A higher diverstiy of Rep-PCR patterns was observed among OXA-72-producing A. baumannii isolates than OXA-23-producing A. baumannii isolates, but all of them belonged to the same clone complex. MLST analysis suggested that the OXA-72 isolates from this study correspond to CC92/CC2 clone complex.Conclusions: This study demonstrates high prevalence and potential clonal spread of closely related genotypes of OXA-72-producing A. baumannii within a Chinese hospital. Continuous surveillance is necessary to monitor the dissemination of these strains in other healthcare settings to guide infection control policies in order to curb the spread of this bacterium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avian leukosis virus (ALV) is an enveloped retrovirus with a single-stranded RNA genome, belonging to the genus Alpharetrovirus within the family Retroviridae. The disease (Avian leukosis, AL) caused by ALV is mainly characterized by tumor development and immunosuppression in chickens, which increases susceptibility to other pathogens and leads to significant economic losses in the Chinese poultry industry. The government and poultry industry have made lots of efforts to eradicate ALV, but the threat of which remains not vanished. This review provides a summary of the updated understanding of ALV in China, which mainly focuses on genetic and molecular biology, epidemiology, and diagnostic methods. Additionally, promising antiviral agents and ALV eradication strategies performed in China are also included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and their role as novel contaminants has garnered significant attention. However, the prevalence of ARGs in farm environments is usually underestimated and understudied. Here, colistin resistance gene mcr-1 and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) and carbapenemase genes, all of which pose a threat to food safety and public health, were selected to investigate ARG pollution in farm environments. Target gene prevalence ranged from 22.4% to 98.8%, with broiler feedlots showing higher contamination rates than pig and layer feedlots. Moreover, the ARGs were detected in the cooperative broiler feedlot environment from 2016 to 2019, with no significant changes in mcr-1 abundance after the 2017 ban on colistin as a growth promotor. The relative abundance of target genes was also higher in solid manure than in feces and soil. Overall, our results revealed: (1) that broiler farm environments could serve as an important reservoir of mcr-1 and ESBL- and carbapenemase-encoding genes; (2) that fecal treatment processes may affect levels of ARG contamination in the environment; and (3) that residual colistin selects for the persistence of mcr-1 in farm environments. Therefore, further investigation is needed to estimate the impact of the ban on colistin as a growth promoter. ga1 • High prevalence of mcr-1 , bla NDM , bla VIM , and bla KPC observed in livestock farm environment. • Carbapenemase genes, especially bla KPC , was underestimated in farm environment. • Colistin residue is the main promoter for persistence of mcr-1 in environment. • Broiler farms had more pollution of mcr-1 , carbapenemase- and ESBL-encoding genes compared to layer and pig farms. • Natural drying was insufficient to reduce the contamination of colistin, mcr-1 and other ARGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soft-shelled turtle (Trionyx sinensis) is one of the most important aquacultural species in China. In recent years, an infectious disease frequently occurred in soft-shelled turtle, which exhibited similar symptoms, including craned necks, ulcerated pores on shells, hemorrhagic intestinal mucosa and heart, intumescent liver and spleen. In this study, a Gram-positive rod bacterial strain BC12 with vigorous hemolytic and lipolytic activity isolated from the sick soft-shelled turtles. Strain BC12 was identified as Bacillus cereus via 16S rRNA phylogenetic analysis and species-specific gene amplification. The juvenile soft-shelled turtles challenged with B. cereus BC12 exhibited similar symptoms as those natural infections, and the 50% lethal dose (LD 50) is 3.89 × 105 colony-forming unit (CFU). Pure B. cereus re-isolated from the heart and liver of turtles infected with BC12. Noticeable pathological changes, including necrosis in the heart and liver and damage in the germinal center of the spleen, were observed in the B. cereus BC12 infected turtles for the first time. Antibiotics susceptibility assay showed that B. cereus BC12 is sensitive to the aminoglycosides, polypeptides, most of the cephalosporins and quinolones, which might be chosen as candidates to prevent and treat B. cereus infection. • An infectious disease frequently occurred in soft-shelled turtles in recent years. • Bacillus cereus strain BC12 was identified as the pathogenic agent of the outbreak in a turtle farm in Hubei province. • Turtles infected with B. cereus strain BC12 exhibited significant pathological changes in the heart, liver and spleen. • B. cereus strain BC12 is sensitive to the aminoglycosides, polypeptides, most of the cephalosporins and quinolones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel goose astrovirus (GoAstV) outbreak in goslings, characterized by severe articular and visceral gout with high mortality, occurred in China. Although the pathogenesis of GoAstV-infected goslings has been explored in several studies, the host-immune response remains unclear. In this study, a goose astrovirus was isolated from goslings in Xiaogan, and designated as the HBXG strain. The full-length genome of HBXG was 7170 nt. A sequence analysis and phylogenetic trees revealed HBXG belonged to the novel GoAstV. We evaluated the viral distribution systematically and estimated immune related gene expression in HBXG-infected goslings. Results showed that GoAstV replicated quickly in many tissues and the highest titer was observed in the kidney, which reached 109.6 copies. TLR3 , RIG-I and MDA5 were involved in the host-immune response to GoAstV, and the expression of IFN types I (IFN-α , IFN-β), inflammatory cytokines (IL-8 , IL-10 , TNF-α), antiviral proteins (Mx, OASL, PKR) and MHC-I were also upregulated during the infection. In contrast, the expression of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β , IL-6) and MHC-II were inhibited at 3 dpi. This study suggests that GoAstV is highly pathogenic to goslings, causing multiple systemic infections in tissues and the host-immune response is activated early in infection. However, rapid viral replication, suppression of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6) and MHC-II expressions were the possible reasons why the host-immune response cannot provide enough protection against GoAstV infection. This study is the first report to illuminate the immune response in goslings infected with GoAstV and offers insight into the pathogenesis of GoAstV. • A novel goose astrovirus was isolated from goslings in Xiaogan, designated as HBXG strain. • We systemically evaluated the viral distribution and immune-related gene expression in HBXG-infected goslings. • This study is the first report to illuminate the immune response in goslings infected with GoAstV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A monoclonal antibody (Mab) named Km3 is capable of specifically recognizing the avian leukosis subgroup K strains. • Peptide129AFGPRSIDTLSDWSRPQ145 was identified as a linear epitope of Gp85 of ALV-K recognized by Mab Km3. • The Mab Km3 will be valuable for the development specific detection and diagnosis method refer to ALV-K. During the past two decades, avian leukosis virus (ALV) caused tremendous economic losses to poultry industry in China. ALV-K as a newly found subgroup in recent years, which made the control and eradication of ALV more difficult as they were originated from the recombination of different subgroups. To date, specific rapid detection methods refer to ALV-K are still missing. Gp85 is the main structural protein of the virus, which mediates the invasion of host cells by the virus and determinates the classification of subgroups. In this study, we prepared a monoclonal antibody (Mab) named Km3 against Gp85 of ALV-K. Immunofluorescence assay showed that Km3 specifically recognized the strains of ALV-K rather than the strains of ALV-A or ALV-J. To explain the subgroups specificity of Km3, the epitope cognized by the Mab was identified by Western blotting using 15 overlapping fragments spanning the Gp85. Finally, the peptide 129AFGPRSIDTLSDWSRPQ145 was identified as the minimal linear epitope recognized by Km3. Alignment of Gp85 from different subgroups showed that the epitope was highly conserved among ALV-K strains, which was quite different from that of the strains from ALV -A, -B and -J. In conclusion, the Mab Km3 may serve as a useful reagent for ALV-K detection and diagnosis in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social capital has long been recognized as a facilitator of socio-economic development. However, the role of social capital in enhancing resilience to multiple shocks in rural China remains insufficiently explored. This study focus on the resilience of households that have recently get rid of poverty and reside in underdeveloped rural areas of China. Unlike previous studies, the article incorporates multiple shocks, social capital, and households' coping strategies into a research framework at the micro level. This study systematically analyses the multiple shocks experienced by households, their coping strategies, and further explores the mediating role of social capital. Utilizing two waves of a rural household panel survey data collected in six underdeveloped counties in 2015 and 2018 in China, we present four key findings. Currently, households primarily contend with drought, illness of family members, and the high costs of agricultural inputs as the main shocks. Their predominant coping strategy is reducing consumption. Importantly, social capital exhibits a mediating effect, accounting for 9.8% of the impact of multiple shocks on households' coping strategies. Notably, natural disasters significantly diminish the informal functions of social capital. While social capital exerts a full mediating effect in non-agricultural households, this effect is not observed among others. This study contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics and specificities of social capital in vulnerable rural areas. Additionally, the findings provide policymakers with practical insights regarding differentiated and preemptive risk governance approaches., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Unhealthy behavior is an important factor threatening the health of older rural residents in China. We examine the effects of receiving pension on elderly rural residents' health behavior (namely conscious control of sugar, salt, and edible oil intake, as well as learning health or wellness knowledge), also including effect heterogeneity by income level and gender., Methods: Using China Rural Revitalization Survey (CRRS) in 2020, we used the policy rule of the China's New Rural Pension Scheme that only those people who are over 60 years old can have access to pension as the natural experiment, and explore the causal effect of receiving pensions on the health behaviors by using regression discontinuity design method., Results: Having access to pension can improve the health behavior of rural elderly residents, including increasing the probability of rural residents' conscious control of sugar (p < 0.1) and conscious control of salt intake (p < 0.1), which is still valid after a series of robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis finds that access to pensions is more likely to improve the health behavior of low-income families and male rural elderly residents., Conclusions: The research has expanded the discussion on the correlation between the pension and the health of rural elderly residents, and the conclusion provides important policy implications for optimizing the rural elderly insurance system and leveraging pension to improve the health behavior of rural elderly residents., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Magnetic susceptibility (MS) technology can achieve the efficient rough measurement, mapping, and pollution assessment of soil heavy metal concentrations in topsoil due to atmospheric dust contamination. However, previous studies of commonly used MS field probes (MS2D, MS2F, and MS2K) have not dealt with the range of magnetic signal detection and the attenuation characteristics of the signal with respect to distance. In this study, the vertical and horizontal measurement ranges of the MS2D, MS2F, and MS2K probes were explored through laboratory and field experiments, and the intensity of their magnetic signals was further compared and analyzed in the field. The results showed that the magnetic signal intensity of the three probes decreased exponentially with distance. The penetration depths of the MS2D, MS2F, and MS2K probes were 8.5, 2.4, and 3.0 cm, respectively, and the horizontal detection boundary lengths of their magnetic signals were 32, 8, and 6.8 cm, respectively. In the field surface soil MS detection, the magnetic measurement signals of the MS2F and MS2K probes showed a weak linear correlation with the MS2D probe (R 2 of 0.43 and 0.50, respectively), while the MS2F and MS2K probes had a significantly better correlation (R 2  = 0.68) with each other. In general, the MS2D probe and MS2K probe correlation had a slope close to unity, meaning MS2K probes had good mutual substitution. Furthermore, results of this study improve the effectiveness of the MS evaluation of heavy metal pollution in urban topsoil., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Coxsackievirus A10 (CVA10) is one of the major causative agents of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). To investigate the epidemiological characteristics as well as genetic features of CVA10 currently circulating in Shanghai, China, we collected a total of 9,952 sporadic HFMD cases from January 2016 to December 2020. In the past five years, CVA10 was the fourth prevalent causatives associated with HFMD in Shanghai and the overall positive rate was 2.78%. The annual distribution experienced significant fluctuations over the past five years. In addition to entire VP1 sequencing, complete genome sequencing and recombination analysis of CVA10 isolates in Shanghai were further performed. A total of 64 near complete genomes and 11 entire VP1 sequences in this study combined with reference sequences publicly available were integrated into phylogenetic analysis. The CVA10 sequences in this study mainly belonged to genogroup C and presented 91%-100% nucleotide identity with other Chinese isolates based on VP1 region. For the first time, our study reported the appearance of CVA10 genogroup D in Chinese mainland, which had led to large-scale outbreaks in Europe previously. The recombination analysis showed the recombination break point located between 5,100 nt and 6,700 nt, which suggesting intertypic recombination with CVA16 genogroup D. To conclusion, CVA10 genogroup C was the predominant genogroup in Shanghai during 2016-2020. CVA10 recombinant genogroup D was firstly reported in circulating in Chinese mainland. Continuous surveillance is needed to better understand the evolution relationships and transmission pathways of CVA10 to help to guide disease control and prevention., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: To provide a better understanding of the progress on rubella control and elimination in China, a genetic analysis was conducted to examine the transmission pattern of the endemic rubella virus in China during 2010-2019., Methods: A total of 4895 strains were obtained from 29 of the 31 provinces in mainland China during 2010-2019. The genotyping regions of the strains were amplified, determined, and assembled. Genotyping analysis and lineage division were performed by comparisons with the World Health Organization reference strains and reported lineage reference strains, respectively. Further phylogenetic analyses were performed to compare the genetic relationship., Results: During 2010-2019, the domestic lineage 1E-L1 and multiple imported lineages of rubella viruses including 2B-L1, 1E-L2, and 2B-L2c were identified. Further analysis of the circulation trend of the different lineages indicated that 2 switches occurred among the lineages. The first shift was from lineage 1E-L1 to 2B-L1, which occurred around 2015-2016, followed by the lowest rubella incidence in 2017. The second shift was from lineage 2B-L1 to 1E-L2 and 2B-L2c, which occurred around 2018-2019, coinciding with rubella resurgence and the subsequent nationwide epidemic during 2018-2019. Insufficient genomic information worldwide made it impossible to trace the origin of the imported viruses., Conclusions: China was moving toward rubella elimination, as evidenced by the fact that previous endemic lineages were not detected. However, rubella reemerged in 2018 2019 due to the newly imported rubella viruses. Therefore, to realize the rubella elimination goal, joint efforts are required for all countries worldwide., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Avian leukosis virus (ALV) caused tremendous economic losses to poultry industry all over the world, especially in China. One natural recombinant ALV strain, designated as HB2015032, was isolated from indigenous chickens with neoplastic diseases in Hubei, China. The complete proviral genome of HB2015032 is 7703 bp in length. Sequence analysis showed that the Env of HB2015032 exhibited 99.3% similarity with that of a ALV subgroup K (ALV-K) isolate JS11C1 at amino acid level. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that both gp85 and gp37 of HB2015032 were clustered in the same branch with JS11C1 and other ALV-K strains isolated from Chinese indigenous chickens in recent years. However, the pol gene, the 3' untranslated region (3' UTR), and the 3' long terminal repeat (3' LTR) of HB2015032 were more closely related to ALV-J prototype HPRS-103, and clustered in the same branch with ALV-J strains. Furthermore, the pol gene of HB2015032 contained a premature stop codon that resulted in a truncated Pol protein with 22 amino acid residues missing, which was a unique feature of the pol gene of ALV-J. 3'UTR of HB2015032 containing entire DR1, E element and U3. E element of HB2015032 contained one base deletion, which resulted in a c-Ets-1 binding site. In addition, U3 region of HB2015032 contains most of the transcription regulatory elements of ALV-J, including two CAAT boxes, Y boxes, CArG boxes, PRE boxes, NFAP-1 boxes, and one TATA box. These results suggest that isolate HB2015032 was a novel recombinant ALV-K containing the ALV-K env gene and the ALV-J backbone and exhibiting high pathogenicity.

Based on measles surveillance in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, from 2006 to 2015, we found that measles virus isolates from 40 throat swab samples exhibited atypical cytopathic effects in Vero/hSLAM cells, which was found to be a result of coinfection with measles virus (MeV) and human herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). Serological and molecular approaches were used to confirm and characterize the coinfections in these patients. Among the 40 measles cases, measles-specific IgM was detected in 37 cases, while measles-specific IgG was detected in 27 cases. HSV-1-specific IgM and IgG were detected in 7 and 34 cases, respectively, suggesting that most of the MeV infections were primary, but that HSV-1 infection was due to the reactivation of latent virus in most cases. The titers of HSV-1 IgG in patients with either measles or measles-HSV-1 coinfection were significantly higher than those in the healthy group (P = 0.0026 and P < 0.0001, respectively); however, there was no significant difference in the titers of HSV-1 IgG in the MeV and MeV-HSV-1 coinfection patients (P = 0.105). Nucleic acids from MeV and HSV-1 were detected in 40 and 39 throat swabs, respectively. Twenty five MeV RNA sequences were genotyped, and all represented genotype H1, which is the endemic genotype in China. Sequences from the glycoprotein G gene of HSV-1 were used to classify the isolates into two distinct phylogenetic groups: 34 belonged to group A and 3 belonged to group B.

Listeria monocytogenes is capable of infecting almost all animals. However, outbreaks of listeriosis are infrequent in birds. This report describes an outbreak of listeriosis in a small pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) breeder farm with more than 2,000 pheasants from Hubei province of the People's Republic of China. The affected flock consisted of adult and young birds. Approximately 300 young birds and a few adult birds were found dead within a few days of the onset of clinical signs. Twenty-five dead birds were collected for further examination. Histopathological lesions in the visceral organs were characterized by monocyte infiltration and proliferation. Localized encephalitis and meningitis were detected in the brains of dead birds. Gram-positive organisms were observed in heart blood smear, liver, and brain impression smears. The organisms were isolated from fresh liver and were identified as L. monocytogenes serotype 4b based on multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and hlyA gene sequence analysis. This is the first report describing outbreak of listeriosis in pheasant flock., (© 2015 Poultry Science Association Inc.)