Sivay et al (2012) J Virol
04 January 2013
The rarely identified influenza A viruses of H15 hemagglutinin subtype have been isolated exclusively in Australia. Here a group of Russian and US researchers report the isolation of an H15N4 influenza A virus (A/teal/Chany/7119/2008) in Western Siberia, Russia. During routine surveillance from May through September 2008, investigators collected 1,445 cloacal swab samples from healthy wild birds, from which 25 avian flu viruses were isolated. One of these, from a common teal (Anas crecca), was subtyped as H15N4, the first time an H15 strain has been confirmed outside of Australia.
Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that the internal genes of the A/teal/Chany/7119/2008 belong to the Eurasian clade, and that the H15 and N4 genes were introduced into the gene pool of circulating endemic avian influenza viruses through reassortment events.