Pathology

Reassortment

Phylogenetic tree

Virus

Disease

Goose

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Biology

Gene

Nanopore sequencing

Genome

Virology

Whole genome sequencing

Ecology

Minion

Clade

Genetics

Medicine

Viruses

A novel H5N8 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) was detected in a greater white-fronted goose in January 2020 in Brandenburg, Germany, and, in February 2020, in domestic chickens belonging to a smallholding in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. Full-genome sequencing was conducted on the MinION platform, enabling further phylogenetic analyses. The virus of clade 2.3.4.4b holds six segments from a Eurasian/Asian/African HPAIV H5N8 reassortant and two segments from low pathogenic avian influenza H3N8 subtype viruses recently detected in wild birds in Central Russia. These new entries continue to show the reassortment potential of the clade 2.3.4.4 H5Nx viruses, underlining the necessity for full-genome sequencing and continuous surveillance.

Novel HPAIV H5N8 Reassortant (Clade 2.3.4.4b) Detected in Germany