HA:200T matching High-CFR H5N1 Gharbiyah emerges in Taiwan. HA instability expands

The 80% CFR Gharbiyah, Egypt H5N1 cluster carries HA:200T.  This polymorphism has increased its PF11 range with an entry into Taiwan and is now found in 10 sequences on the pandemic background:

• Taiwan (June) A/Taiwan/115
• United States, East and West Coast (4 in April)
• Japan (4 in June)
• Italy, Milan (May)

Taiwan115 also shows HA:414I which is found on 19 other PF11 sequences (some duplicates) ranging into the Eastern US (8), Australia (4), China (4), Germany (2) and Canada(1).

Another position of interest continues with Genetic Acquisition activity into Taiwan.  286E is found on A/Taiwan/126 and one US specimen, NY3629, a total of 2 PF11 instances.  No point of Ultimate Origin is yet established at this time for 286E; however, instability exists at this amino acid position throughout the H1N1 and H5N1 serotypes.  At least 6 values are on file at 286 within our reservoirs of interest (Donor Candidate serotypes).

286K:  PF11 Consensus
286E:  Taiwan126, NY3629
286H:  1918 (3), IowaSwine1930
286L:   Lab_Virulent_hvPR8_34
286M:  H5N1 Viet human (2) and Hunan Chicken
286Q:  Seasonal H1N1 2008, 2009, WSN33 and KoreaSwineS175

Continued H1 (Hemagglutinin) high variability is expected due to 286 instability and geographic spread of 200T and 414I.

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Hemagglutinin of NewYork4014 (2009-06-10) is exact match to Tokushima1 (2009-06-02) with 145I and 296H.

A sequence from Broome County, New York deposited today at GenBank, A/New York/4014, is an exact match on the Hemagglutinin to the Japanese sequence, A/Tokushima/1.  NY4014 was sampled 8 days after the Japanese sequence.

These two sequences are also an exact HA match to a previous NY sequence, A/New York/3573, taken 2009-05-21.

The NY4014 and Tokushima1 homology fails on other gene segments as the NY4014 appears relatively stable to the PB2, NA and NS1 segments' PF11 consensus. The NY4014 NS1 is an exact match to NY3573.

Of particular note on the NY4014, Tokushima1 and NY3573 HA segments is the 145I that sets apart only 6 sequences within ΣPF11:

As you can see from the table, the most current samples with 145I carry 296H, a polymorphism of interest on HA.

The intra-segment exclusivity trend between 296H and 206T continues to exist within ΣPF11.

A NY-Japan-NY segment transfer is not surprising given international air travel.  A more robust database would allow greater acuity into the interpretation of the ultimate origin of this rare HA event.

Please visit GeneWurx.com for insight into the latest published studies.