Avian Flu Invades US Through Alaska Wild Migratory Birds, Strains Deadlier Than H5N1 New Study Suggests

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Alaska could serve as the passageway of Asian flu viruses to enter North America, a new study suggests. It is also found to be the fertile breeding ground for this new flu strain.

The MIT-led team discovered that epidemic Asian flu viruses, which originated in Southeast Asia, are most possibly transported to Alaska by savage migratory birds. In 2014 and 2015, an outbreak of H5N8, H5N1, and H5N2 influenza killed an almost 50 million chickens and turkeys in North America.

According to MIT News, the local flu strain in Alaska transformed into a deadly one when it mingled with Asian flu viruses. This life-threatening new strain now widely affects south to poultry farms in Washington, Oregon, and California.

“We think there’s strong evidence that those viruses moved through the Bering strait through wild bird populations and began a process of evolution that ended up with them infecting poultry populations and becoming a big agricultural issue,” Jonathan Runstadler said. He is an assistant professor of biological engineering and comparative medicine at MIT and the senior author of the study.

According to Knowridge, Alaska hosts wide groups of migratory waterbirds, such as ducks, geese, and gulls. These flocks fly north from both Asia and southern regions of North America. Waterbirds are a potential host for influenza viruses since they spread these strains easily, and many of them relocate intercontinental, Nichola Hill, study lead author said.

The intermingling of birds provides an opportunity to Asian flu viruses to undergo genetic reassortment. The process enables them to develop new features that they could now infect various hosts.

Furthermore, Asian flu viruses possessed eight genetic components that are independent and unattached. As a result, they can exchange genetic segments when two different viruses infect a single host.

“The virus then comes out of that cell with the mixture of the two viruses,” Runstadler says. “This reassortment seems to be a major mechanism by which the influenza virus can move between different hosts.”