Re-emergence of Fujian H5N1 in Southeastern Russia
Recombinomics Commentary 14:48
September 26, 2008

The new form of the virus of bird flu is discovered in the Khasan and The [khankayskom] The [proimorya] regions.

Probably, to new infection littoral is obliged to Vietnam or Laos

According to him in the seaside edge for the first time in Russia was, precisely, set reliable barrier to bird flu in April of this year, when the center of infection was discovered in one of the farmer economies it was Ussuri.

The above translation describes new bird flu outbreaks in southeastern Russia.  The translations do not identify the infected birds or provide direct comments on the identity of the bird flu, but the comparison to outbreaks in southeast Asia and comments on the earlier outbreak in the spring, strongly suggest the Fujian strain of H5N1 has re-emerged in Russia at locations along the coast in areas adjacent to China and North Korea (see satellite map).

Full sequences from an isolate from the outbreak in the spring have been released.  The HA is clade 2.3.2, while the remaining seven gene segments are clade 2.3.4.  These sequences are virtually identical to multiple isolates from northern Japan from Akita, Hokkaido, and Aomori.  Although South Korea has not released sequences, media reports indicate the H5N1 from the spring Korean outbreak are also closely related to the published sequences.

The spring outbreaks in the whooper swans in Japan were linked to migration to the north.  Although Russia reported excessive poultry deaths in Kamchatka over the summer, H5N1 outbreaks were denied.

The recent report on the re-emergence of H5N1 in the Primorie region in Russia suggests unreported H5N1 is also circulation in China, Korea, and Japan.

More detail on the Russian outbreaks would be useful.

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