title: Genetic characteristics of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza viruses isolated from migratory wild birds in South Korea during 2014-2015.
abstract: The continuous worldwide spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N8 viruses among wild birds and poultry is a potential threat to public health. In the present study, we investigated the genetic characteristics of recent H5N8 viruses continuously isolated from migratory birds over two winters (2013-2014 and 2014-2015) in South Korea. Genetic and phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that the 2014-2015 HPAI H5N8 viruses are closely related to the 2013-2014 viruses, including virulence markers; however, all eight gene segments of 2014-2015 H5N8 viruses clustered in different phylogenetic branches from 2013-2014 H5N8 viruses, except the A/Em/Korea/W492/2015 virus. The H5N8 viruses of Europe and North America belong to sublineages of the 2013-2014 Korean H5N8 viruses but differ from the 2014-2015 Korean H5N8 viruses. Further hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay results showed that there were 2-to-4 fold differences in HI titer between 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 H5N8 viruses. Taken together, our results suggested that the 2014-2015 Korean H5N8 viruses were genetically and serologically different from those of 2013-2014 winter season H5N8 viruses, including those from Europe and North America.
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, 12 Gaeshin-Dong, Heungduk-Ku, Cheongju, 361-763, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Jae
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Si
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, 12 Gaeshin-Dong, Heungduk-Ku, Cheongju, 361-763, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Won Suk
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, 12 Gaeshin-Dong, Heungduk-Ku, Cheongju, 361-763, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Il
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, 12 Gaeshin-Dong, Heungduk-Ku, Cheongju, 361-763, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: In-Won
authors.initials: IW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, 12 Gaeshin-Dong, Heungduk-Ku, Cheongju, 361-763, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hyeok-Il
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, 12 Gaeshin-Dong, Heungduk-Ku, Cheongju, 361-763, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Su-Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, 12 Gaeshin-Dong, Heungduk-Ku, Cheongju, 361-763, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Eun-Ha
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, 12 Gaeshin-Dong, Heungduk-Ku, Cheongju, 361-763, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Se Mi
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, 12 Gaeshin-Dong, Heungduk-Ku, Cheongju, 361-763, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jin-Jung
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, 12 Gaeshin-Dong, Heungduk-Ku, Cheongju, 361-763, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Min-Suk
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungnam National University, 220 Gung-Dong, Yuseoung-Gu, Daejeon, 305-764, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Chul-Joong
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, 12 Gaeshin-Dong, Heungduk-Ku, Cheongju, 361-763, Republic of Korea. choiki55@chungbuk.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Young-Ki
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005838:Genotype; D006385:Hemagglutination Inhibition Tests; D000071225:Influenza A Virus, H5N8 Subtype / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000821:virology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D056910:Republic of Korea; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D065288:Serogroup