30.01.2017

Source: Avian Flu Diary

One of the hallmarks of Clade 2.3.4.4  H5 viruses (which include both H5N8 and H5N6 subtypes) has been its enhanced ability to successfully reassort with other (mostly LPAI) viruses it encounters in its travels, and in doing so spinning off new genotypes, and occasionally, new subtypes as well. 
Although nearly all of the reports during the fall of 2016 were of H5N8, in December several nations (Italy, The Netherlands, and Montenegro) reported the discovery of a new HPAI H5N5 reassortant virus in a small number of wild birds. A week ago - and for the first time in Europe -  HPAI H5N5 Was Detected In A German Poultry Operation.  Three days later HPAI H5N5 Was Detected At Two More Poultry Farms. 
It remains to be seen how persistent this H5N5 virus will be, but it has been described as `highly aggressive' by the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI), which published an updated avian flu risk assessment last week.
Today we have reports of an HPAI H5N2 virus having been detected in wild birds in  Baden-Württemberg, in the Southwest of Germany.  A full genetic analysis is still awaited, but a preliminary report from the FLI suggests this may be a new reassortant of the H5N8 virus.