Phylogenetic analysis reveals that the H5N1 avian influenza A outbreak in poultry in Ecuador in November 2022 is associated with the highly pathogenic clade 2.3.4.4b

Alfredo Bruno; Alonzo Alfaro-Núñez; Doménica de Mora; Rubén Armas; Maritza Olmedo; Jimmy Garcés; María Sol Vaca; Euclides De la Torre; David Jarrin; Lidia Burbano; Johanna Salas; Cristian Imbacuan; José Chanatasig; Margoth Barrionuevo; María Cristina Galante; Veronica Salas; Natalia Goñi; Juan Cristina; Christian Steffe Domingues; Lucas Oliveira Montesino; Fernanda Gomes Cardoso; Dilmara Reischak; Miguel Angel Garcia-Bereguiain

doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2023.04.403

Phylogenetic analysis reveals that the H5N1 avian influenza A outbreak in poultry in Ecuador in November 2022 is associated with the highly pathogenic clade 2.3.4.4b

Int J Infect Dis. 2023 Aug:133:27-30. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2023.04.403. Epub 2023 Apr 20.

Authors

Alfredo Bruno¹, Alonzo Alfaro-Núñez², Doménica de Mora³, Rubén Armas⁴, Maritza Olmedo³, Jimmy Garcés³, María Sol Vaca⁵, Euclides De la Torre⁵, David Jarrin⁵, Lidia Burbano⁵, Johanna Salas⁵, Cristian Imbacuan⁵, José Chanatasig⁵, Margoth Barrionuevo⁵, María Cristina Galante⁵, Veronica Salas⁵, Natalia Goñi⁶, Juan Cristina⁷, Christian Steffe Domingues⁸, Lucas Oliveira Montesino⁸, Fernanda Gomes Cardoso⁸, Dilmara Reischak⁸, Miguel Angel Garcia-Bereguiain⁹

Affiliations

¹ Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública e Investigación "Leopoldo Izquieta-Pérez", Guayaquil, Ecuador; Universidad Agraria del Ecuador, Guayaquil, Ecuador. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Naestved Hospital, Naestved, Denmark; Section for Evolutionary Genomics, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
³ Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública e Investigación "Leopoldo Izquieta-Pérez", Guayaquil, Ecuador.
⁴ Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública e Investigación "Leopoldo Izquieta-Pérez", Guayaquil, Ecuador; Universidad Espíritu Santo, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
⁵ Agencia de Regulación y Control Fito y Zoosanitario ("Agrocalidad"), Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería, Ecuador.
⁶ Centro Nacional de Referencia de Influenza, Departamento de Laboratorios de Salud Pública, Ministerio de Salud Pública, Montevideo, Uruguay.
⁷ Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Centro de Investigaciones Nucleares, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
⁸ Laboratório Federal de Defesa Agropecuária, Ministério da Agricultura e Pecuária, São Paulo, Brasil.
⁹ One Health Research Group, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 37086864
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2023.04.403

Abstract

The ongoing H5N1 outbreak in the Americas caused by clade 2.3.4.4 is causing unprecedented impact in poultry and wild birds. In November 2022, a highly pathogenic avian influenza A outbreak was declared in poultry in Ecuador, affecting more than 1.1 million heads of poultry in two farms by February 2023. Phylogenetic analysis shows that the virus clade is 2.3.4.4b, and to the best of our knowledge, this is the first scientific publication reporting this clade in South America.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Animals
Disease Outbreaks
Ecuador / epidemiology
Humans
Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype* / genetics
Influenza in Birds* / epidemiology
Phylogeny
Poultry