H5N1 in Saudi Arabia
Recombinomics Commentary
November 14, 2007
Saudi Arabia’s Agriculture Ministry announced yesterday that it had culled 50,000 birds after a deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was detected at a poultry farm in Al-Kharj, 150 kms south of Riyadh
tests were carried out after 1,500 birds died in the farm, which had a total of 50,000 birds.
It also advised the public not to hunt migratory birds
The above comments on a new H5N1 outbreak in Saudi Arabia comes of the heals of an outbreak in Suffolk, England. Saudi Arabia previously reported H5N1 in ostriches in March, but this outbreak and culling are significantly larger.
In Europe, the recent outbreaks, beginning over the summer in Germany and the Czech Republic, involve a sub-clade of the Qinghai strain that is closely related to the Tvva/Mongolia isolates linked to a massive wild bird outbreak in the spring/summer of 2006.
Although there were no reports of this sub-clade for a year, it generated headlines over the summer in Germany when hundreds of wild birds tested positive for a closely related H5N1. The detection in the summer, when wild bird migration was minimal, strongly suggested that the strain had become endemic in the wild bird population in Europe.
The recent outbreak in England in free range turkeys suggests that is version of H5N1 is circulating over a wide region.
Details of the H5N1 in Saudi Arabia, including sequence information would be useful.
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