#14,661
For the second time in just over a week China's MOA has announced an outbreak of HPAI H5N6 in wild swans - making China's 3rd outbreak of 2020. Other than HPAI H5N1, the Asia strain of HPAI H5N6 has been the most successful avian H5 virus at affecting human health, with roughly 2 dozen known (and often fatal) infections since 2014.
HPAI H5N6 continues to evolve, and while it hasn't spread as far and wide as its HPAI H5N1 and HPAI H5N8 cousins, last November - in EID Journal: Genetic Characterization of Avian Influenza A(H5N6) Virus Clade 2.3.4.4, Russia, 2018 - we saw the details of last winter's first detection of China's HPAI H5N6 virus in Western Russia.Although it is a bit difficult to decipher, today's report appears to have occurred roughly 65 km north (and a little east) of last week's reported outbreaks.
Xinjiang native soldiers 2nd and 21st 4th Tianjin H5N6 type highly pathogenic birds
Date: 2020-01-16 18:31 Author: Coming Source: {Murabe Shin}
The Xinjiang Office of the Ministry of Public Affairs, January 16th, Xinjiang Production and Conservation Corps, 21st and 4th live wild nature, H5N6 type H5N6 highly ill-affected birds.
On January 16th, China arrived in the village, reported the Center for Control of Epidemic Control of Pest Control, National Poultry Fluency Reference Laboratory, Xinjiang Live Construction and Conservation Unit No. 21 Wild Bird, H5N6, Highly Harmful Bird, Tianwan Bay Scenic Area, 21st Flu fluence. 该 Water area: 150 birds, 1 sickness, 1 dead. After the birth of the epidemiological information, the local sect has been secretly infused, and the surrounding environment has been disinfected.
After a relatively quiet 2019 on the HPAI H5 front across both Europe and Asia, since the first of the year we've seen a decided uptick in activity of both HPAI H5N6 (in Asia) and HPAI H5N8 (in Europe)
This is the time of the year (winter) when one would expect to see heightened activity, and so it is too soon to tell if this is a short term blip, or the start of a renewed resurgence of H5 avian flu.
