Novel Reassortant Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N8) Virus in Zoos, India

Abstract

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N8) viruses were detected in waterfowl at 2 zoos in India in October 2016. Both viruses were different 7:1 reassortants of H5N8 viruses isolated in May 2016 from wild birds in the Russian Federation and China, suggesting virus spread during southward winter migration of birds.

Novel HPAIV H5N8 Reassortant (Clade 2.3.4.4b) Detected in Germany

“…Six of the eight segments (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8) cluster with 98% sequence identity to a previous HPAIV H5N8 reassortant found from 2016 onwards (Figure 2 and Figure S1, Table S1) [12,13]. This reassortant has been identified in areas ranging from Asia/Eurasia (India, A/painted stork/India/10CA03/2016; South Korea, A/common teal/Korea/W548_2016, A/chicken/Korea/Gunsan/2017; Central Russia, Siberia, A/domestic duck/Siberia/49/2016), Europe (Italy, A/turkey /Italy/17VIR538-1/2017) [14] to Africa (Egypt, A/green-winged teal/Egypt/877/2016; South Africa, A/Geese/South_Africa/S2017/09_0055_P1/2017) in the season 2016/2017 [12,15]. On closer examina-tion, the segments 1, 3, 4, 7, and 8 also exhibit high identity levels (98.86%-99.55%, Table S1) to a recent Nigerian HPAIV H5N8 (A/guinea fowl/Nigeria/OG-GF11T_19VIR8724-7) sampled in July 2019, while segment 6 has proven to share the highest sequence identity with HPAI H5N8 viruses circulating in Siberia, India, and Korea from 2016 to 2017 (98.56%-98.49%, Table S1).…”

Genetic Diversity of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N8/H5N5) Viruses in Italy, 2016–17

“…The tMRCA for this group was May–June 2016 in the hierarchical gene segment model ( Table 2 ; Technical Appendix 1 Table 1). The first HPAI A(H5N8) virus detected in a turkey farm in the Veneto region displayed the gene composition of a virus isolated in October 2016 from a painted stork in an Indian zoo ( 5 ), which had not previously been reported in Europe ( Figure 2 ). The tMRCA of this Indian–Italian group is July–October 2016, according to the hierarchical gene segment model ( Table 2 ; Technical Appendix 1 Table 1).…”

The Pattern of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 Outbreaks in South Asia

“…Multiple subtypes of avian influenza viruses were identified in South Asian countries between January 2006 and June 2019, including: H5N1, H5N6, H5N2, H5N3, H9N2, H1N1, H1N2, H1N3, H1N4, H2N3, H2N4, H3N1, H3N2, H3N5, H3N6, H3N8, H4N1, H4N2, H4N6, H5N8, H6N1, H6N2, H7N3, H6N7, H7N9, H10N7, H11N1, H11N2, H11N6, H11N9 and H11N3 [23,29,[34][35][36][38][39][40][41][42][43]. Avian influenza strain diversity may increase the probability of genetic reassortment between influenza subtypes which may facilitate the evolution of a future novel pathogenic strain of animal and public health importance.…”