China Lab Reveals H7N9 Source

4/11/13

Excerpt:
The researchers found that no genes in H7N9 were traceable to pigs, thus excluding pigs as intermediate hosts for the deadly new strain of bird flu, the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology said on Wednesday.

According to the researchers, the genetic reassortment is likely to have occurred in east China's Yangtze River Delta areas covering Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. They found that a virus carried by wild birds from the Republic of Korea and other east Asian regions mingled with the avian influenza virus carried by ducks and chickens in the Yangtze River Delta during migration.

The lab's research shows the H7 and N9 gene segments in H7N9 are similar to those in avian influenza samples collected from wild birds from east Asia, while the other six genes are traceable to chickens in China's Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

http://www.worldpoultry.net/Other-Poultry-Species/Health/2013/4/China-Lab-reveals-H7N9-source-1226602W/