H5N1 Re-emerges in Gharbiya Egypt
Recombinomics Commentary
December 23, 2007
he received the official Major General Director of the Western [Al Gharbiyah] security Bnfouk filed dozens of birds in the house of the citizen Abdulatif Eid Center Epcin. Was formed a committee of veterinary medicine and move to the site of the author were executed birds infected with the virus and inspecting the contacts of birds.
The above translation describes another H5N1 outbreak in the Nile Delta (see satellite map). Although Egypt has completed and extensive vaccination program of poultry, new H5N1 outbreaks in poultry are being reported. The above outbreak is in the Gharbiya governorate.
Almost exactly one year ago the largest cluster reported to date in Egypt was in Gharbiya. All three infections were fatal and the sequences from the patients had two receptor binding domain changes, V223I and M230I, as well as a Tamflu resistance change in NA N294S.
Poultry with the receptor binding domain changes were subsequently found in Gharbiya and Beni Suef.
This season, the H5N1 circulation in Europe is the Uva Lake strain, which has not been previously reported in Egypt. Earlier this year the sequences had the Egyptian markers seen in early 2006, but were more complex. The receptor domain changes were among the newly acquired polymorphisms.
Sequence data from poultry isolates from this year would be useful.
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