Genetic characterization of H7N4 avian influenza virus in China in 2018

Recent study in this journal reported that the first case of human infection with H7N4 avian influenza virus (AIV) was confirmed in China.1 Subsequently, 11 H7N4 AIVs were isolated from poultries, 4 viruses isolated from chickens and 7 viruses isolated from ducks. Presently, H7N4 AIVs were only identified from USA, Australia, Italy, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Keara, Thailand, and China.2 Most of the H7N4 AIVs were low pathogenicity, except those isolated from Australia in 1997. In the present study, we performed a genetic analysis of these H7N4 AIVs in China during 2018.