title: Epidemiological and Evolutionary Inference of the Transmission Network of the 2014 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N2 Outbreak in British Columbia, Canada.
abstract: The first North American outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) involving a virus of Eurasian A/goose/Guangdong/1/1996 (H5N1) lineage began in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada in late November 2014. A total of 11 commercial and 1 non-commercial (backyard) operations were infected before the outbreak was terminated. Control measures included movement restrictions that were placed on a total of 404 individual premises, 150 of which were located within a 3 km radius of an infected premise(s) (IP). A complete epidemiological investigation revealed that the source of this HPAI H5N2 virus for 4 of the commercial IPs and the single non-commercial IP likely involved indirect contact with wild birds. Three IPs were associated with the movement of birds or service providers and localized/environmental spread was suspected as the source of infection for the remaining 4 IPs. Viral phylogenies, as determined by Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood methods, were used to validate the epidemiologically inferred transmission network. The phylogenetic clustering of concatenated viral genomes and the median-joining phylogenetic network of the viruses supported, for the most part, the transmission network that was inferred by the epidemiologic analysis.
authors.affiliation: Canadian Food Inspection Agency, National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 3M4, Canada.
authors.forename: Wanhong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Canadian Food Inspection Agency, National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 3M4, Canada.
authors.forename: Yohannes
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Berhane
authors.affiliation: Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Animal Health Risk Assessment, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0Y9, Canada.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dubé
authors.affiliation: Public Health Agency of Canada, National Microbiology Laboratory, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 3M4, Canada.|Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 3R2, Canada.
authors.forename: Binhua
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Canadian Food Inspection Agency, National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 3M4, Canada.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pasick
authors.affiliation: Public Health Agency of Canada, National Microbiology Laboratory, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 3M4, Canada.|Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 3R2, Canada.
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: VanDomselaar
authors.affiliation: Canadian Food Inspection Agency, National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 3M4, Canada.|Deakin University Geelong and Geelong Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia.
authors.forename: Soren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alexandersen
mesh_terms: D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000821:virology*; D001955:British Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002645:Chickens / Q000821:virology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary*; D000072480:Farms; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D053125:Influenza A Virus, H5N2 Subtype / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D005585:Influenza in Birds / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D014422:Turkeys / Q000821:virology