- As many as 200 geese and 100 chickens were killed by
the virus in the village of Suzdalka near Novosibirsk, a source in the
ministry told the Gazeta.ru news website.
-
- The presence of H5 bird flu in migrating Russian birds
is not a new development. Genbank has sequences dating back to 2001 and
the H5 is associated with several N sero-types. However, the reassortants
signal dual infections, and the earlier versions of H5 in Russia are recombinants
with some polymorphisms from Europe and others from eastern Asia.
-
- Hover Novosibirsk is just 400 miles north of Tacheng,
the site of a recent H5N1 putbreak that killed domestic geese, which is
an unusual outcome for H5 infections. The Tacheng outbreak was followed
by an outbreak in Changji, Xinjiang and that outbreak also resulted in
fatal infections in ducks and geese. Most of the reported migratory bird
deaths at Qinghai lake were also geese, so the deaths of 200 geese in Russia
strongly suggest a relationship and further spread of H5N1 by migratory
birds.
-
- The H5N1 sequences at Qinghai Lake are from reassortants
and the isolates are recombinants, acquiring many polymorphisms normally
found in European swine. The acquisition of mammalian polymorphisms was
seen in Vuetnam and Thailand and these isolates produce lethal infections
in humans.
-
- There are third party reports of H5N1 human infections
in Qinghai Lake as well as reports of force quaratine administered by the
military. These reports raise concerns that the failure of China to respond
requests from WHO to visit Xinjiang and the withholding of sequences and
samples are part of a large cover-up designed to hide or delay release
of information on a raging pandemic in China.
-
- © 2005 Recombinomics. All rights reserved.
|
