Shanxi Province - Credit Wikipedia
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Given the amount of avian flu activity being reported in South Korea, Japan, Russia, and Europe over the past few months it is not surprising that today - for the first time since February of 2020 - China is reporting an outbreak of HPAI H5N8 in landlocked Pinglu County, Shanxi Province near the border with Henan Province.
China has a history of holding outbreak information close to the vest - arguably even more so since the COVID crisis began last winter - as we seem to be getting less information than usual (see Flying Blind In the Age Of Pandemics & Emerging Infectious Disease.
Those with good memories, however, will recall that in January of 2015 this same region reported another outbreak of HPAI (H5N1) at Henan's Swan Lake Wetland Park. The Pinglu Wetland, - which forms part of the Sanmenxia Reservoir Area - is a major winter habitat for more than 10,000 swans that migrate from Siberia in Russia.
Seven months later we learned that die off was due to a new reassortment of H5N1 (see Novel H5N1 Reassortment Detected In Migratory Birds - China), one that possessed a Clade 2.3.2.1c HA gene and a H9N2-derived PB2 gene.
Over the years, die offs in wild birds have occasionally heralded the introduction of new reassortments or clades of HPAI H5, and have often preceded regional epizootics or international expansion of bird flu. A few notable examples include:
- A huge outbreak at Qinghai Lake in 2005 was clade 2.2 (aka QH05) of the H5N1 virus. And over the next 18 months, this new clade vastly expanded its geographic range across Asia, and into Europe and Africa (see H5N1 Influenza Continues To Circulate and Change 2006 by Webster et. al.).
- Four years later researchers found evidence of another clade (2.3.2) (see 2011 EID Journal New Avian Influenza Virus (H5N1) in Wild Birds, Qinghai, China), at another bird die off in the same region. In short order the 2.3.2 clade began to show up in migratory birds, and poultry, from Japan to India, supplanting the old 2.2 clade in many regions.
- Over the summer of 2016, a new reassortant HPAI H5N8 appeared in Siberia, killing wild birds. Four months later it appeared in Europe and sparking their worst avian epizootic on record (see EID Journal: Reassorted HPAI H5N8 Clade 2.3.4.4. - Germany 2016).
- And just three weeks ago, in a pre-print article from researchers at Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR) in the Netherlands, we saw evidence that Europe's recent uptick in HPAI H5N8 is due to a `genetically distinct' strain of HPAI H5N8.
It isn't clear whether the HPAI H5N8 virus currently affecting Europe is genetically similar to what is being reported in East Asia, or if we are dealing with more than one variant. Either would a significant development.
Wild swans H5N8 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak in Pinglu County, Shanxi Province
Release time: 2020-11-26
The Information Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced on November 26 that a wild swan H5N8 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza epidemic occurred in Pinglu County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province.
On November 26, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs received a report from the China Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center, which was confirmed by the National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory that a wild swan H5N8 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza epidemic occurred in the Sanwan Whooper Swan Scenic Area, Pinglu County, Yuncheng .
There are more than 4,000 wild swans living in this area, with 2 sick and 2 dead. After the outbreak, the local area immediately activated an emergency response mechanism, carried out emergency response work, and disinfected the surrounding environment. All sick and dead swans were treated harmlessly.
