Genetic characterization of a schoolgirl infection with novel reassortant H5N6 avian influenza virus.

Genetic characterization of a schoolgirl infection with novel reassortant H5N6 avian influenza virus. Jpn J Infect Dis. 2019 Oct 31;: Authors: Dong Z, Ya X, Wang D, Liu C, Shen Q, Xia Y Abstract A 10-year-old schoolgirl was laboratory confirmed infection with H5N6 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus in Suzhou city in November, 2018 (JSSZ01). Hemagglutinin (HA) gene of this H5N6 virus belonged to 2.3.4.4 H5 clade and the HA linkage peptide of JSSZ01 strain was RERRRKR↓GLF with multiple basic amino acids. Q226L and G228S mutations were not observed, but S128P, S137A, T160A substitutions in receptor binding sites (RBS) were discovered. Resistance mutation D198N in neuraminidase (NA) protein was also identified in this strain. Besides, 11 amino acids (59-69AAs) deletion was identified in NA stalk region. Most genes of JSSZ01 exhibited the highest identity with previous H5N6 viruses, but its PA segment sequence was highly similar to previous avian H3 viruses (Accession Number: EPI596567 or EPI590058), indicating that JSSZ01 may be generated by gene reassortment. PMID: 31666492 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Jpn J Infect Dis Source Type: research