By Carol Cardona, Professor and Pomeroy Chair in Avian Health for the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota The news of a Eurasian strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) detection in a flock of birds of mixed species on the East coast of Canada greatly increases the possibility of HPAI coming to Minnesota. The Atlantic and Pacific oceans have prevented the movement of HPAI circulating in Asia and Europe from coming to the Americas. Now that the biggest barrier has been breached, the risk of HPAI in the US has greatly increased. The sequence of the hemagglutinin gene (the H in H5N1) from this case has been classified as a member of clade 2.3.4.4B of the goose Guandong lineage. That means that this gene is related to the virus that caused the 2014-2015 HPAI outbreak (which was a clade 2.3.4.4 virus of the goose Guandong lineage). The goose Guandong family of viruses has spread previously in wild birds. Although we don’t know how a clade 2.3.4.4B HPAI viru
Poultry and animal health scientists and educators at University of Minnesota Extension provide up to date, research-based information on avian health and production in the Midwest.