Commentary
Spread of Fujian H5N1 in Southeastern Russia
Recombinomics Commentary 23:02
September 28, 2008
The new virus of bird flu was fixed in the territory of seaside edge. This occurred in The [khankayskom] and the Khasan the regions of edge,
In April already it was possible to hold in control the wave of bird flu and not to give present year in the littoral to it to be extended into the depths of Russia. This time will be repeated the same. In April all forces were mobilized in the territory of seaside edge to the fight with the terrible infection. Among the population explanatory works conducted. Medical workers, virusologists, epidemiologists and veterinarians, acted together. For this very reason the single cases of bird flu then did not develop into epidemic.
The above translation describes the spread of the Fujian strain of H5N1 in southeastern Russia. However, although the news circulated widely in Russian media last week, there has been no follow-up, suggesting the above translation is describe H5N1 spread last spring. Spread last spring would not be unexpected, because H5N1 was widely reported in South Korea and Japan (see satellite map) . In South Korea H5N1 was reported at record levels in the spring. The high level of activity in South Korea led to enhanced surveillance in Japan, which led to reports of H5N1 in whooper swans in a number of locations in northern Japan. Five outbreaks were reported to OIE, and sequences from isolates in Hokkaido, Akita, and Aomori have been released.
Russia only filed one OIE report, which was for a poultry outbreak in Ussurysk. Sequences from a chicken isolate were virtually identical to the sequences from isolate in Japan, which also matched isolates in South Korea. Thus, it is likely that H5N1 in southeastern Russia extended beyond the one outbreak on the farm, but outbreaks in wild birds may not have been reported.
H5N1 is a notifiable disease, but some countries limit reports to confirmed outbreaks in domestic poultry. Reports of wild bird outbreaks began in earnest with the Qinghai Lake outbreak in May, 2005. Although China initially denied that the bar headed geese at the reserve died from H5N1, but an OIE report was filed later in the month, which described fatal H5N1 infections in five species of long rang migratory birds. This was followed by reports from Mongolia, which also had outbreaks which were limited to wild birds.
When H5N1 spread west in late 2005 and early 2006 many countries in Europe filed OIE reports, even though outbreaks only involved wild birds. However, in many countries, outbreaks in wild birds that did not involve poultry were not reported. Of the more notable outbreaks was in Mongolia and Russia in the summer of 2006. The outbreak rivaled Qinghai Lake, but neither Russia nor Mongolia filed OIE reports on the outbreak at Uvs Lake and surrounding regions in Mongolia and Russia. However, sequences of isolates from dead wild birds in both countries were made public. These sequences were Qinghai clade 2.2, which was the case for all H5N1 west of China. The sub-clade was 2.2.3 and had a few additional changes not seen in clade 2.2.3 isolates in Europe and India.
The Uvs Lake strain was subsequently reported in South Korea and Japan by the end of 2006 and in Kuwait in the beginning of 2007. In the summer of 2007, Uvs Lake was reported in wild birds in Germany, the Czech Republic, and France. In the fall the strain spread throughout Europe, and recent outbreaks in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo appear to also be the Uvs Lake strain.
Thus, the outbreak in the spring in Russia may have been markedly greater than the one outbreak reported in the spring. Although the H5N1 was in long range migratory birds, it was not the Qinghai strain that had spread to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Instead, the outbreaks in Russia, Japan, and South Korea were the Fujian strain, which had an HA from the clade 2.3.2 sub-clade, and the other seven genes from clade 2.3.4.
More detail on the spread in southeastern Russia would be useful.
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