Friday, February 14, 2014

Referral: Dr. Mackay On H7N9 Reassortment & A Lack Of New Sequence Data

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# 8298

 

Yesterday, in Eurosurveillance:The Evolving Threat From New, Reassorted H7N9 Viruses, we looked at a Rapid Communications detailing three new H7N9 reassortants discovered in Eastern China over the past couple of months – a development that shows that H7N9 continues to evolve and mutate.

 

Today, Dr. Ian Mackay - whose comments appeared last night in CIDRAP News’ H7N9 cases pause; new report details reassortants - takes a Virologist’s eye view of the study, and does some detective work himself, uncovering a decided lack of new sequence data being deposited at  GISAID or GenBank since the first of the year.

 

Follow the link below to read:

 

H7N9 keeps changing and mingling and mixing...

A new report in Eurosurveillance out today has once again raised the spectre of a pandemic H7N9 spread.


Not just for what the Meng and colleagues from China and the United States have shown in their detailed analysis of the PB1 gene segment of (mostly) avian influenza A(H7N9) viruses from humans birds and the environment in 2013, but also for what they have indirectly highlighted: a massive absence of 2014 H7N9 sequence data on GISAID or GenBank sequence databases.


Being asked for comment, which I provided in 2 stories linked below (2 and 3), I dug into the sequence databases and was stunned (yes, really!) to find that there are hardly any sequences available from H7N9 gene segments or genomes this year.

(Continue . . . )