Who knew?

I personally have only ever heard about H5N1 avian influenza. Now, because all of the H and N subtypes are found in birds, I assumed that other strains besides H5N1 must be important for one reason or another, but this is the first time I've ever seen an article on it. That being the case I thought it would be beneficial for me to enlighten everyone else on the topic...

The article dates back to the beginning of November, however, PubMED is reporting on it now because there were errors in the original article. The actually story is as follows: H7N3 highly pathogenic notifiable avian influenza (HPNAI) was found in the Province of Saskatchewan. The virus is one of many subtypes of Influenza A, and interestingly did not have a close phylogenetic relationship to the HPNAI H7N3 subtype found in British Columbia in 2004. In order to control the outbreak, 3 and 10 km surveillance zones were extablished and all flocks in this area were tested. A control areas was established beyond this zone and all flocks in this control area were tested as well.

In addition, public health measures were enacted to prevent direct infection of exposed individuals. Secondary preventive measures were also put in place including the use of Tamiflu.

This article is super interesting and extremely relevant to all of the concepts we discussed in class last week. I highly recommend that you read it! Here's the link:

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/promed/f?p=2400:1001:11913527072737542371::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,40339

-Alaina