The enigma of the apparent disappearance of Eurasian highly pathogenic H5 clade 2.3.4.4 influenza A viruses in North American waterfowl

Abstract

One of the major unresolved questions in influenza A virus (IAV) ecology is exemplified by the apparent disappearance of highly pathogenic (HP) H5N1, H5N2, and H5N8 (H5Nx) viruses containing the Eurasian hemagglutinin 2.3.4.4 clade from wild bird populations in North America. The introduction of Eurasian lineage HP H5 clade 2.3.4.4 H5N8 IAV and subsequent reassortment with low-pathogenic H?N2 and H?N1 North American wild bird-origin IAVs in late 2014 resulted in widespread HP H5Nx IAV infections and outbreaks in poultry and wild birds across two-thirds of North America starting in November 2014 and continuing through June 2015. Although the stamping out strategies adopted by the poultry industry and animal health authorities in Canada and the United States—which included culling, quarantining, increased biosecurity, and abstention from vaccine use—were successful in eradicating the HP H5Nx viruses from poultry, these activities do not explain the apparent disappearance of these viruses from migratory waterfowl. Here we examine current and historical aquatic bird IAV surveillance and outbreaks of HP H5Nx in poultry in the United States and Canada, providing additional evidence of unresolved mechanisms that restrict the emergence and perpetuation of HP avian influenza viruses in these natural reservoirs.