Rapid Communication The genome sequence analysis of H5N1 avian influenza A virus isolated from the outbreak among poultry populations in Thailand

AbstractIn this report, the genome of the Thai avian influenza virus A (H5N1); A/Chicken/Nakorn-Pathom/Thailand/CU-K2/04, isolated from theThai avian influenza A (AI) epidemic during the early of 2004 was sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses were performed in comparison to AIviruses from Hong Kong 1997 outbreaks and other AI (H5N1) isolates reported during 2001–2004. Molecular characterization of the Thai AI(H5N1) HA gene revealed a common characteristic of a highly pathogenic AI (HPAI), a 20-codon deletion in the neuraminidase gene, a 5-codon deletion in the NS gene and polymorphisms of the M2 and PB2 genes. Moreover, the HA and NA genes of the Thai AI displayed highsimilarity to those of the AI viruses isolated from human cases during the same epidemic. Finally, our results demonstrated that the Thai AIemerged as a member of 2000’s AI lineage with most of the genetic sequences closely related to the Influenza A/Duck/China/E319.2/03(H5N1).D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Avian Influenza A; H5N1; Thailand