Commentary
Endemic
H5N1
Confirmed in Saxony Germany
Recombinomics Commentary
15:20
October 20, 2008
The above comments from a report on the H5N1 and H5N3 outbreaks in Saxony strongly suggest that H5N1 is endemic in Germany and is circulating largely undetected. In 2006 there were three distinct sub-clades circulating in Germany, including one sub-clade which was also found in Switzerland, France, and the Czech Republic. Although this sub-clade was reported in multiple countries in early 2006, it has not been reported since. The recent detection of this sub-clade in 25 free range birds in Saxony indicates it has been circulating undetected in Germany for over 2 years.
Reports of H5N1 from Germany since the summer of 2007 have been limited to outbreak involving sub-clade 2.2.3, which is easily distinguished from the 2006 isolates in Germany.
However, in early 2007 clade 2.2.3 isolates began acquiring NA G743A, which had been limited to the 2006 isolates that included A/tufted duck/Germany/R1240/06. G743A was appended onto multiple clade 2.2 genetic backgrounds in early 2007, and clade 2.2.3 with G743A was widely detected in Europe after the summer 2007 outbreaks.
The detection of 2008 isolates with sequence closely related to the tuft duck isolate above suggests that this sub-clade may have been circulating undetected in late 2006 / early 2007 and may have been the donor sequence for the acquisition of G743A.
The detection of the 2006 sequence in 2008 strongly suggests that H5N1 is endemic in Germany and throughout Europe.
Recombinomics Presentations
Recombinomics
Publications
Recombinomics
Paper
at Nature Precedings