Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus (H5N1) in Domestic Poultry and Relationship with Migratory Birds, South Korea

During the 2006–2007 winter season in South Korea, several outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) were confirmed among domestic poultry and in migratory bird habitats. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all isolates were closely related and that all belong to the A/bar-headed goose/Qinghai/5/2005–like lineage rather than the A/chicken/Korea/ES/2003–like lineage

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus (H5N1) in Domestic Poultry and Relationship with Migratory Birds, South Korea

During the 2006-2007 winter season in South Korea, several outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) were confirmed among domestic poultry and in migratory bird habitats. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all isolates were closely related and that all belong to the A/ bar-headed goose/Qinghai/5/2005-like lineage rather than the A/chicken/Korea/ES/2003-like lineage.We thank Hyuk-Man Kwon, Eun-Im Yun, Kyeong-Hwa Han, Hee-Kyung Jang, and Won-Joung Kim for excellent technical assistance. We also thank the Animal Disease Control Division and the Veterinary Epidemiology Division of NVRQS for their efforts to control HPAI. This work was supported by grant no. RO1-2005-000- 10585-0 from the Basic Research Program of the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation and by grant no. C-AD15-2006-14- 01 from the Research Program of NVRQS