Date: Wed 22 Oct 2008
From: Martin Beer


Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 has been detected in
clinically healthy ducks in a mixed poultry holding in Saxony,
Germany. 30 oropharyngeal swabs from geese and ducks had been sampled
for routine monitoring purposes. A single duck tested positive for
HPAIV H5N1, and the cleavage site sequence was confirmed as
GERRRKKR*GLF on 9 Oct 2008. Subsequently, 157 additional duck samples
were obtained and revealed a further 24 H5N1 positives, of which 9
had sufficient viral loads to be confirmed as HPAIV. All poultry were
culled. No more cases have been detected up to now in contact farms
or in wild bird samples obtained from this region.

Preliminary sequence and phylogenetic analysis of the HA gene from 4
duck samples gave evidence for a representative of a cluster 2.2
sublineage which had been detected in spring 2006 in Southern
Germany. In fact, a virus from a tufted duck (R1240/06; Starick et
al., 2008) found in 2006 40 km away from the present outbreak
location is very closely related. So far, there are no records for
the presence of viruses of this sublineage after May 2006 in Germany
and Europe. In summary, the data suggest a very recent introduction
of HPAIV H5N1 into this farm from an as yet unknown source.

In parallel, LPAIV H5 infections have been detected in waterfowl in
the zoo of Leipzig, Saxony and in a small mixed poultry holding near
Leipzig. These viruses turned out to be typical representatives of
Eurasian H5 LPAIV currently also detected in aquatic wild birds in
Germany. Poultry at the LPAIV-affected holdings had been culled as
well.

[Elke Starick (Senior Scientist, OIE and National Reference
Laboratory AI) Dr. Christian Grund (Deputy Head OIE and National
Reference Laboratory AI) Dr. Timm Harder (Head OIE and National
Reference Laboratory AI) Dr. Martin Beer (Head Institute of
Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut) Prof. Dr. Thomas C.
Mettenleiter (President, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut)]

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Communicated by:
Dr. Martin Beer
Head Institute of Diagnostic Virology
Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut
Am Suedufer 10
17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems
Germany