Tennessee Bird Flu Shares Name, Not Genetics, Of Feared China Strain

The strain of bird flu that infected a chicken farm in Tennessee in recent days shares the same name as a form of the virus that has killed humans in China, but is genetically distinct from it, U.S. authorities said on Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture identified the strain in Tennessee as H7N9, following a full genome sequencing of samples from the farm. It said all eight gene segments of the virus had North American wild bird lineage.
On Sunday, the USDA confirmed the farm in Tennessee was infected with highly pathogenic bird flu, making it the first case in a commercial U.S. operation in more than a year.
In China, at least 112 people have died from H7N9 bird flu this winter, Xinhua news agency said on Friday.
However, that virus has Eurasian lineage, U.S. flu experts said.
“Even though the numbers and the letters are the same, if you look at the genetic fingerprint of that virus, it is different,” said Dan Jernigan, director of the influenza division at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Jernigan said the risk to humans from the virus found in Tennessee is low. Genome sequencing shows the H7N9 virus did not have genetic features present in the virus in China that make it easier for humans to become infected, he said.
The virus found in Tennessee likely mutated to become highly pathogenic from a less dangerous, low pathogenic form, he said.
Disease experts fear a deadly str...

Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - March 9, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news