First Case of Human Infection with Avian Influenza virus A(H6N1) in Taiwan (HK CHP, June 21 2013)

[gsgs]

Re: First Case of Human Infection with Avian Influenza virus A(H6N1) in Taiwan (HK CHP, June 21 2013)

someone said, that Taiwan had released the sequences to GISAID now.

~5% nucleotide differences to Taiwan chicken from 2002,
no good matches to other recent available genomes
and quite different from my 2009-genome above
(~5%, so there is some diversity)

(0.3% differences per year is normal)

627E in PB2

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: First Case of Human Infection with Avian Influenza virus A(H6N1) in Taiwan (HK CHP, June 21 2013)

New, virulent bird flu could arise

Lai Shiow-suey 賴秀穗
...
However, could the same thing that happened in China with H7N9 happen in Taiwan now that someone has been infected with H6N1?
...
It can be inferred that before H7N9 became deadly to humans it may have been similar to H6N1 in Taiwan in that only a few people got infected with it and their very mild symptoms meant that the cases were overlooked by quarantine health workers.

Yet after a while the H7N9 virus evolved into a highly pathogenic form.

There are about 300 million domestic fowl and 7 million pigs in Taiwan. The wet and cool weather in autumn and winter make it easy for H6N1 to spread among poultry and cross over to pigs. The viral genes can be reassorted and mutate in the process.

The Center for Disease Control has thus far detected just one case of H6N1 infection in a human, and further observation will be required to tell whether this was just a one-off case or whether it means that H6N1 has become more pathogenic.

However, from an epidemiological point of view, the recent outbreak of H6N1 probably did not just infect one person.
...
H6N1 infection is widespread among domestic fowl in Taiwan, with a higher than 20 percent prevalence among poultry. The strain is also widespread among swine.

Test results from the year 2000 onward show that infection is present in about 10 percent of pig farms and that 1 percent of pigs have antibodies to the virus.

Six of the gene segments in the H5N2 bird flu virus that broke in 2011 originated from H6N1 through reassortment.

The spread and evolution of H6N1 should make health authorities pay careful attention to the question of whether the strain might develop into a new and virulent kind of bird flu virus, as happened with H7N9.

Lai Shiow-suey is an honorary professor in the Department of Veterinary Medicine at National Taiwan University.

Translated by Drew Cameron and Julian Clegg

Full text:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2013/07/15/2003567123/2

 

[NS1]

Re: First Case of Human Infection with Avian Influenza virus A(H6N1) in Taiwan (HK CHP, June 21 2013)

The authors demonstrate a rational approach.

Laidback Al captured some related intelligence last year, Pathogenic analysis of H6N1 influenza viruses isolated in northern Vietnam [FT#179212]. These collaborating organisations in Japan similarly are concerned about pandemic potential of H6N1 virus from Northern Vietnam and discuss the relationship with emergent 1997 H5N1. While experimentally constructing an H6N1 virus with a poly-basic cleavage site, they developed a fully functional High-Path virus. Their mammal model investigation demonstrated potential adaptation via passaging:

The replication efficacy of these strains on mammalian cells and their pathogenesis on the mouse model is further studied to estimate the role of amino acid(s), in sole or in combination(s), in the pathogenesis of strain Dk VN/3C8-12.09.

Cross-Serotype analytics continue to show that Hemagglutinin and Neuraminidase polymorphisms found in pH1N1 significantly parallel avian H6N1 .