An avian H5N1 influenza A virus (A/Hong Kong/156/97) was isolated from a tracheal aspirate obtained from a 3-year-old child in Hong Kong with a fatal illness consistent with influenza. Serologic analysis indicated the presence of an H5 hemagglutinin. All eight RNA segments were derived from an avian influenza A virus. The hemagglutinin contained multiple basic amino acids adjacent to the cleava...

Growing concerns about avian influenza, and its effect on agriculture and human health, have highlighted the need to understand the role of wildlife in maintaining and spreading the virus. We surveyed the wildlife inhabiting a poultry farm with recent H3N6 and H4N6 avian influenza virus exposure in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. One raccoon (Procyon lotor) tested positive for H4N6 antibodies. This is the...

The H3 subtype avian influenza virus (AIV) can provide genes for human influenza virus through gene reassortment, which raises great concerns in terms of its potential threat to human health. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of a novel H3N2 AIV isolated from domestic ducks in the Jiangsu province of eastern China in 2004, which is a natural recombinant virus whose genes are derived ...

The origin of recent parallel outbreaks of the high pathogenicity H5N8 avian flu virus in Europe and in Japan can be traced to a single source population, which has most likely been spread by migratory birds. By using Bayesian coalescent methods to analyze the DNA sequences of the virus to find the times for divergence and combining this sequence data with bird migration data we can show the mo...

Both seasonal and pandemic influenza continue to challenge both scientists and clinicians. Drug-resistant H1N1 influenza viruses have dominated the 2009 flu season, and the H5N1 avian influenza virus continues to kill both people and poultry in Eurasia. Here, we discuss the pathogenesis and transmissibility of influenza viruses and we emphasize the need to find better predictors of both seasona...

We report the complete genome sequence of a natural recombinant H9N2 avian influenza virus (AIV) that was isolated from a wild bird in the Republic of Korea in 2005. The genomic sequence and phylogenetic analyses showed that this virus contains six genes of North American lineage AIV and two genes of Eurasian lineage AIV. These data are beneficial for investigating the ecology and epidemiology ...

An H12N8 subtype avian influenza virus (AIV) was isolated from a wild bird in China in 2011. It is the first report of isolation of the H12N8 subtype AIV in Asia. Phylogenetic analysis results suggested it is a reassortant, and all eight gene segments belong to the Eurasian gene pool.

In early March 2012, animal health and quarantine officials culled and then destroyed more than 54,000 chickens and sterilized a farm in Changhua (in central Taiwan) due to an outbreak of the highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza (HPAI) H5N2. Because all of the news that has any connection to avian influenza remains of great interest to the public, this event caught the attention of the m...

Avian influenza viruses replicate in a variety of mammals and birds, yet hemagglutination inhibition tests show that postinfection sera from these animals (e.g., ferrets and ducks) have insignificant levels of antibodies (Hinshaw et al., Infect. Immun. 34:354-361, 1981). This suggested that avian influenza viruses, in contrast to mammalian viruses, may not induce a significant humoral response....