H5N1 Migrates Back to Siberia
Recombinomics Commentary
April 29, 2007
Monitoring of water fowl began last week, and antibodies to bird flu have been found in the blood of wild ducks on the Korostylyovskoye water reservoir, on the Novoye and Presnoye lakes, they specified.
Domestic birds in thirty-seven districts of the region situated on migratory birds routes are vaccinated first.
The above comments on H5N1 antibodies in the initial wild bird collections for this season are not a surprise. H5N1 has been found in the area each season since the first reported outbreak in July 2005 in and around Chany Lake in Novosibirsk. Last season there was massive die-off in Tuva. Sequences from both outbreaks were Clade 2.2 (Qinghai strain) and seasonal re-emergence via transport and transmission of wild birds is expected, as indicated the by the above immunization schedule.
Sequences from each season become increasingly complex. This season, a larger number of poultry and human H5N1 sequences were generated by US NAMRU-3. The outbreaks in Egypt were followed by outbreaks in Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, signaling the movement of Qinghai H5N1 back to southern Siberia and northern Mongolia.
Sequencing of H5N1 being transported back to Siberia this season would be of interest.
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