Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N8) Virus in Gray Seals, Baltic Sea

• DOI: 10.3201/eid2512.181472
• Publication Date: 2019-11-16T21:13:50Z
• Authors: Dai-Lun Shin; Ursula Siebert; Jan Lakemeyer; Miguel Grilo; Iwona Pawliczka; Nai-Huei Wu; Peter Valentin-We...; Ludwig Haas; Georg Herrler
• Keywords: Baltic States; Male; seal; Seals, Earless; Oceans and Seas; Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; 03 medical and health sciences; Orthomyxoviridae Infections; Animals; viruses; Influenza A Virus, H5N8 Subtype; highly pathogenic avian influenza; 14. Life underwater; marine mammals; Phylogeny; 0303 health sciences; R; Dispatch; 3. Good health; Medicine; H5N8 influenza virus; Poland; influenza

We detected a highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N8) virus in lung samples of 2 gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) stranded on the Baltic coast of Poland in 2016 and 2017. This virus, clade 2.3.4.4 B, was closely related to avian H5N8 viruses circulating in Europe at the time.