Sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia Ancestry of Reassortant Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N8) Virus, Europe, December 2019

• DOI: 10.3201/eid2607.200165
• Publication Date: 2020-06-17T03:18:28Z
• Authors: Edyta Świętoń; Alice Fusaro; Ismaila Shittu; Krzysztof Niemczuk; Bianca Zecchin; Tony Joannis; Francesco Bonfante; Krzysztof Śmietanka; Calogero Terregino
• Keywords: 0303 health sciences; ancestry; R; Dispatch; reassortant viruses; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; influenza virus; 3. Good health; subtype; Europe; highly pathogenic influenza A (H5N8) virus; 03 medical and health sciences; Influenza in Birds; Medicine; Animals; viruses; Influenza A Virus, H5N8 Subtype; Africa South of the Sahara; Phylogeny; Reassortant Viruses

We report detection of a highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N8) clade 2.3.4.4b virus in Europe. This virus was generated by reassortment between H5N8 subtype virus from sub-Saharan Africa and low pathogenicity avian influenza viruses from Eurasia.