Abstract
A distinct cluster of highly pathogenic avian influenzaviruses of subtype A(H5N1) has been found to emergewithin clade 2.2.1.2 in poultry in Egypt since summer2014 and appears to have quickly become predominant.Viruses of this cluster may be associated withincreased incidence of human influenza A(H5N1) infectionsin Egypt over the last months.
Highlights
In Egypt, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) influenza A(H5N1) viruses of clade 2.2.1 and their descendants have been circulating in poultry populations since 2006, causing sporadic human infections [1]
Human influenza A(H5N1) infections in Egypt have been reported since the introduction of the virus in 2006 with 204 cases occurring until end of 2014 and a fatality rate of 35,8% in laboratory-confirmed cases reported to the World Health Organization (WHO)
Immune sera were raised in chickens against low pathogenic (LP) A/chicken/Mexico/232/1994 (A/H5N2 LP, used as a vaccine virus and representing an American LP H5 strain), against A/duck/Potsdam/1402–6/1986 (A/H5N2 LP PTD, representing an Eurasian LP H5 strain) and against highly pathogenic (HP) A/whooper swan/Germany/R65/2006 (A/H5N1 R65, clade 2.2), A/chicken Egypt/0879-NLQP/2008 (A/H5N1 R737, clade 2.2.1.1) and reverse genetically-modified A/duck/Anhui/0.5006 (Re-5, clade 2.3.4)
Summary
HA: haemagglutinin; LBM: live bird market; NA: neuraminidase. Egypt/14154-FAOS/2014 (EPI573331) marked the basis of the NA tree (Figure 2A and 2B, green colour). GenBank sequences of two recent H5N1 HPAI viruses obtained from infected humans in Egypt in November 2014 (AJM70734 and AJM70746), fell into the same expanding cluster (Figure 2A and 2B, blue colour). The HA protein of the viruses in the new cluster contained mutations D94N, T156A, K189R and P235S, which are associated with improved binding to SAα2,6-Gal, the human type of influenza virus receptors [7]. These mutations were present in earlier clade 2.2.1 H5N1 viruses. The authors gratefully acknowledge the originating and submitting laboratories who contributed sequences used in the phylogenetic analysis to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) EpiFlu database
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