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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Exotic & Emerging Avian Viral Diseases Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #315763

Title: Rapidly expanding range of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses

Author
item HALL, JEFFREY - National Wildlife Health Center
item DUSEK, ROBERT - National Wildlife Health Center
item Spackman, Erica

Submitted to: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/16/2015
Publication Date: 6/19/2015
Citation: Hall, J.S., Dusek, R.J., Spackman, E. 2015. Rapidly expanding range of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 21(7):1251-1252. DOI: 10.3201/eid2107.150403.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The recent introduction of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) H5N8 into Europe and North America poses significant risks to poultry industries and wildlife populations and warrants continued and heightened vigilance. First discovered in South Korean poultry and wild birds in early 2014, this virus apparently arose from reassortment events in China between HPAIV H5N1 (clade 2.3.4.4) and several low pathogenic viruses. The H5N8 virus was subsequently found in Russian waterfowl in September 2014 and has since been found in poultry and wild birds in Europe (Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Great Britain), Taiwan, Japan, Canada (British Columbia), and western USA (Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Utah). Providing resources for robust surveillance programs in wild birds and poultry, modeling of HPAIV infected wild bird movements, and experimental research studies will provide the knowledge required for intelligent agricultural policy making, wildlife management, and public health decisions.