Commentary
H5N1
Spread to Xayabury Laos
Recombinomics Commentary
18:13
November 10, 2008
Date of start of the outbreak 27/10/2008
Affected population backyard poultry (114 chickens and 41 ducks)
real-time PCR - 30/10/2008 – Positive
The above comments from today’s OIE report from Laos describe a confirmed H5N1 outbreak in Xayabury. This outbreak follows two earlier outbreaks in northern Laos, and is followed by a confirmed outbreak in northern Thailand, less than two hundred miles southwest of the above outbreak (see satellite map).
These outbreaks in northern Laos and northern Thailand are likely to be related to each other and outbreaks in northern Vietnam. Recent reports have described a number of clade 2.3.4 reassortants in northern Vietnam. These genes are related to 7 of the 8 gene segments in wild bird isolates in Japan (HA is clade 2.3.2), which are closely related to poultry isolates in South Korea and Primorie, which were reported earlier this year.
The recent outbreaks signal migration of wild birds into the region, which will likely lead to reported outbreaks in the regions described above.
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