Full-Genome Sequence of Influenza A(H5N8) Virus in Poultry Linked to Sequences of Strains from Asia, the Netherlands, 2014 - Volume 21, Number 5—May 2015 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

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Full-Genome Sequence of Influenza A(H5N8) Virus in Poultry Linked to Sequences of Strains from Asia, the Netherlands, 2014 - Volume 21, Number 5—May 2015 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

Volume 21, Number 5—May 2015

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Full-Genome Sequence of Influenza A(H5N8) Virus in Poultry Linked to Sequences of Strains from Asia, the Netherlands, 2014

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• The Study
• Conclusions
• Suggested Citation

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Technical Appendicies

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Ruth Bouwstra , Rene Heutink, Alex Bossers, Frank Harders, Guus Koch, and Armin Elbers

Author affiliations: Wageningen University and Research Centre, Central Veterinary Institute, Lelystad, the Netherlands

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract

Genetic analyses of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N8) virus from the Netherlands, and comparison with strains from Europe, South Korea, and Japan, showed a close relation. Data suggest the strains were probably carried to the Netherlands by migratory wild birds from Asia, possibly through overlapping flyways and common breeding sites in Siberia.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N8) virus probably originated in China, where it was isolated in 2009–2010 (1). Pathogenicity studies showed that the virus was highly virulent in chickens but mildly or moderately virulent in wild ducks. Phylogenetic research demonstrated that it was the product of various reassortment events: the virus’s RNA consists of segments that come from other influenza viruses. The backbone of the HPAI (H5N8) virus is formed by parts of the HPAI (H5N1) virus that has circulated in China since 1997 and spread worldwide since 2004.

Beginning in January 2014, H5N8 virus spread rapidly in South Korea, initially mainly among farmed ducks. During the first outbreaks among farmed ducks, numerous dead Baikal teals (Anas formosa, a species of migratory wild ducks) were found near the affected farms, leading to the hypothesis that infection was carried by the wild ducks. Genetic analysis of the virus indicated that isolates from infected domesticated ducks and dead Baikal teals in the surrounding area in South Korea strongly resembled earlier isolates from China (2). The analysis also indicated that the HPAI (H5N8) virus in South Korea is a product of reassortment of A/duck/Jiangsu/k1203/2010 (H5N8) and other avian influenza viruses that co-circulated among birds in East Asia during 2009–2012 (3). Kang et al. (4) recently demonstrated by experimental infection of wild ducks (A. platyrhynchos) and Baikal teals that HPAI (H5N1) and (H5N8) virus isolates did not cause serious illness or death in these species. Recent phylogenetic studies of HPAI (H5H8) viruses isolated from infected poultry and wild birds in 2014 in South Korea indicate that migrating birds played a key role in the introduction and spread of the virus in the initial phase of the 2014 outbreak (5). In mid-April 2014, the presence of HPAI (H5N8) virus was demonstrated at a poultry farm in Japan after a rise in the death rate was noted (6). During a monitoring program in November 2014, fecal samples of migrating Bewick’s Tundra swans (Cygnus columbianus bewickii) tested positive for the HPAI (H5N8) virus. We conducted full-length sequencing to elucidate the origin of the HPAI (H5N8) virus detected in the Netherlands.

Dr. Bouwstra is a veterinary virologist and leader of the avian influenza and Newcastle disease project in the Department of Virology, Central Veterinary Institute, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Lelystad, the Netherlands. Her research interests are notifiable animal diseases and One Health.

Acknowledgment

We thank the Dutch Animal Health Service, the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, and the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs for excellent cooperation during the outbreak.

References

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Figure

• Figure. Phylogenetic tree of hemagglutinin gene of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N8) viruses. The evolutionary history was inferred by using the maximum-likelihood method based on the Tamura-Nei model in MEGA6 (...

Technical Appendix

• . Sequences of the H5N8 virus isolates from the Netherlands were compared with sequences obtained from the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data’s EpiFlu Database.  22 KB

Suggested citation for this article: Bouwstra R, Heutink R, Bossers A, Harders F, Koch G, Elbers A. Full-genome sequence of influenza A(H5N8) virus in poultry linked to sequences of strains from Asia, the Netherlands, 2014. Emerg Infect Dis. 2015 May [date cited].http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2105.141839

DOI: 10.3201/eid2105.141839