H5N1 to Russia through poultry?

[Martin W]

From conservationist concerned re H5N1:

This looks to be an important article: I haven’t sent the whole text,
only the conclusion, as it’s mainly about how they did the analysis.
However, there’s a link to the full piece below.

What’s interesting:

1) The Novosibirsk strain is closely related to those in Asia 2003-2005
and Japan 2003-2004, which we know from Chen and others work were
poultry-derived (there goes another of New Scientist’s silly outburst
statements).
2) Further confirmtion of Guan Yi’s findings that the Qinghai “wild
bird” strain was closely related to Chinese poultry strains, and not a
“new strain” first seen in “wild birds” at the lake.

Given there is now doubt over the “wild” origins of the Bar-headed Geese
at Qinghai, this paper seems to me to strengthen the case even further
for westwards movement of the virus in poultry.

Incidently, did the two Lvov papers (on the Novosibirsk outbreak) ever
get published? They included information on the infamous “asymptomatic
grebe” and were posted on the web for comment. The conclusions on the
data presented were so ridiculous that I imagine the paper was
rejected/withdrawn pending a major rewrite.

H5N1 Influenza Virus, Domestic Birds, Western Siberia, Russia
Alexander M. Shestopalov,* Alexander G. Durimanov,* Vasily A. Evseenko,*
Vladimir A. Ternovoi,* Yury. N. Rassadkin,* Yulya V. Razumova,* Anna V.
Zaykovskaya,* Sergey I. Zolotykh,* and Sergey V. Netesov*
*State Research Center Virology and Biotechnology Vector, Koltsovo,
Novosibirsk, Russia

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol12no07/05-1338.htm

Quote:

We isolated H5N1 influenza virus from the spleen of a turkey that died
during an outbreak in poultry in western Siberia in July 2005. HA and NA
genes of this virus were closely related to those of H5N1 avian
influenza viruses that caused outbreaks in birds in Asian countries from
2003 to 2005 and in Japan in 2003 and 2004. The corresponding isolate,
A/Turkey/Suzdalka/Nov-1/05, from turkey spleen was highly pathogenic for
chickens in the laboratory intravenous pathogenicity index test. The
origin of this H5N1 virus in western Siberia is not known. Migratory
birds could have introduced this virus because western Siberia is
located on a flyway of wild birds that migrate in the spring from
southeastern Asia. [so, why didn’t eastern Siberia, northeast China likewise suffer major outbreaks?] Highly pathogenic Asian H5N1 influenza virus in
western Siberia demonstrates spread of these Asian viruses into new
areas and suggests a larger geographic distribution.

[Author]

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