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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Exotic & Emerging Avian Viral Diseases Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #333950
Title: Reoccurrence of avian influenza A(H5N2) virus clade 2.3.4.4 in wild birds, Alaska, USA, 2016

Author
item LEE, DONG-HUN - Orise Fellow
item TORCHETTI, MIA - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
item KILLIAN, MARY - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
item DELIBERTO, THOMAS - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS), National Wildlife Center
item Swayne, David

Submitted to: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2017
Publication Date: 2/1/2017
Citation: Lee, D., Torchetti, M., Killian, M., Deliberto, T., Swayne, D.E. 2017. Reoccurrence of avian influenza A(H5N2) virus clade 2.3.4.4 in wild birds, Alaska, USA, 2016. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 23(2):365-367. doi:10.3201/eid2302.161616.

Interpretive Summary: The deadly form of influenza virus caused a major disease outbreak in poultry in the USA during 2014-2015. This highly pathogenic avian influenza virus has been detected again in a wild mallard in Alaska during August 2016 which indicates the virus has not disappeared and raises concern that the virus might return to the lower 48 states during the fall wild waterfowl migration.

Technical Abstract: We report reoccurrence of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N2) virus clade 2.3.4.4 in a wild mallard in Alaska, USA, in August 2016. Identification of this virus in a migratory species confirms low-frequency persistence in North America and the potential for re-dissemination of the virus during the 2016 fall migration.