Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Exotic & Emerging Avian Viral Diseases Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #336320
Research Project: Intervention Strategies to Prevent and Control Disease Outbreaks Caused by Emerging Strains of Avian Influenza Viruses

Location: Exotic & Emerging Avian Viral Diseases Research

Title: Reassortant clade 2.3.4.4 Avian Influenza A(H5N6) Virus in a wild Mandarin Duck, South Korea, 2016

Author
item JUNG-HOON, KWON - Konkuk University
item LEE, DONG-HUN - Orise Fellow
item Swayne, David
item JIN-YONG, NOH - Konkuk University
item SEONG-SU, YUK - Konkuk University
item TSEREN-OCHIR, ERDENE-OCHIR - Konkuk University
item WOO-TACK, HONG - Konkuk University
item JEI-HYUN, JEONG - Konkuk University
item SOL, JEONG - Konkuk University
item GYEONG-BIN, GWON - Konkuk University
item CHANG-SEON, SONG - Konkuk University

Submitted to: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/15/2017
Publication Date: 5/15/2017
Citation: Jung-Hoon, K., Lee, D., Swayne, D.E., Jin-Yong, N., Seong-Su, Y., Tseren-Ochir, E., Woo-Tack, H., Jei-Hyun, J., Sol, J., Gyeong-Bin, G., Chang-Seon, S. 2017. Reassortant clade 2.3.4.4 Avian Influenza A(H5N6) Virus in a wild Mandarin Duck, South Korea, 2016. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 23(5):822-826. doi:10.3201/eid2305.161905.

Interpretive Summary: Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) have caused significant economic losses in the poultry industries and represents a serious threat to public health. In this study, we report the first detection of H5N6 HPAIV from a fecal sample obtained from a wild bird sampled in South Korea during the fall 2016. This virus was genetically close to H5N6 viruses of China, Vietnam, Laos and Hong-Kong including those causing human infections. The detection of the H5N6 HPAIV clade 2.3.4.4 in a migratory bird species in South Korea raises a concern over the potential for broad geographic dissemination of zoonotic H5N6 HPAIV via wild birds outside of East Asia.

Technical Abstract: Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) have caused significant economic losses in the poultry industries and represents a serious threat to public health. H5N1 HPAIV was first detected in 1996 from a domestic goose in Guangdong China (Gs/GD) and has subsequently evolved into 10 genetically distinct virus clades (0–9) and multiple subclades. Since 2008, novel reassortant HPAIV bearing the hemagglutinin (HA) gene of the Gs/GD lineage H5 clade 2.3.4 and neuraminidase (NA) subtypes N1, N2, N5, N6, N8 and N9 have been identified in China. While H5N8 of clade 2.3.4.4 caused outbreaks in East Asia and subsequently disseminated to Europe and North America by wild aquatic birds in late 2014, H5N6 of clade 2.3.4.4 has caused continuous outbreaks in China since 2013 with dissemination to Laos and Vietnam in 2014 and Hong Kong in 2015. Since the first case in Sichuan province, 15 human cases of H5N6 have been reported in China between April 2014 and May 2016. In this study, we report the first detection of H5N6 HPAIV from a fecal sample obtained from a wild bird sampled in South Korea during the fall 2016. In this study, we sequenced and genetically analyzed the complete genome of a South Korea H5N6 isolate. This virus was genetically close to H5N6 viruses of China, Vietnam, Laos and Hong-Kong including human isolates. The detection of the H5N6 HPAIV clade 2.3.4.4 in a migratory bird species in South Korea; reports of H5N6 outbreaks in poultry from China, Laos and Vietnam; and diagnosis of lethal human cases of highly homologous H5N6 viruses in China collectively raises a concern over the potential for broad geographic dissemination of zoonotic H5N6 HPAIV via wild birds outside of East Asia.