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. 2022 Dec 26;12(1):36.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens12010036.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus Clade 2.3.4.4b in Wild Birds and Live Bird Markets, Egypt

Rabeh El-Shesheny  1 , Yassmin Moatasim  1 , Sara H Mahmoud  1 , Yi Song  2   3 , Ahmed El Taweel  1 , Mokhtar Gomaa  1 , Mina Nabil Kamel  1 , Mohamed El Sayes  1 , Ahmed Kandeil  1   4 , Tommy T Y Lam  2   3   5 , Pamela P McKenzie  4 , Richard J Webby  4 , Ghazi Kayali  6 , Mohamed Ahmed Ali  1
Affiliations

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus Clade 2.3.4.4b in Wild Birds and Live Bird Markets, Egypt

Rabeh El-Shesheny et al. Pathogens. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Clade 2.3.4.4 H5Nx influenza viruses have further diversified into several subclades. Sub-clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 viruses have been widely circulating in wild birds and detected in Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America since October 2020. In this study, we report the first detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b viruses in wild birds and domestic ducks from live bird markets in Egypt. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Egyptian H5N1 virus retained the genomic composition of Eurasian strains. Mutations in the viral proteins associated with zoonotic potential and pathogenicity were detected in Egyptian isolates. Egypt is considered a hot spot for the evolution of the influenza virus, so active surveillance of avian influenza viruses in Egypt is warranted.

Keywords: Egypt; H5N1; live bird markets; poultry; wild birds.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phylogenetic tree of H5N1 viruses sequenced in this study, in addition to other publicly available H5Nx clade 2.3.4.4 from GenBank and GISAID. Red dots represent the H5N1 viruses sequenced in this study. Topological support values (SH-like support) of selected nodes are displayed. To the right, a schematic representation of viral clustering of each gene segment (from left to right: PB2, PB1, polymerase acidic, haemagglutinin, nucleoprotein, neuraminidase, matrix, and non-structural) is shown. Segment colors indicate origin of the segment. Within each cluster, a unified color pattern indicates homogeneity and a different color pattern indicates reassortment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Time to the most recent common ancestor of H5N1 viruses sequenced in this study; maximum clade credibility temporal phylogeny of the hemagglutinin (HA) gene. The H5N1 viruses from Egypt are represented by red dots. Posterior clade probabilities are indicated by the sizes of the internal node circles. Shaded bars represent the 95% highest probability distribution for the age of each node with posterior clade probability > 0.3.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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