Avian Flu - H5N1/H5N2/H5N8 - Pacific Northwest

Emergence of Highly Pathenogenic Flu in the Pacific Northwest (H5N1, H5N2 and H5N8)

Northern Pintail, British Columbia

A Highly Pathenogenic Strain of Avian Flu (WHO), H5N1, has appeared in Whatcom County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest, according to a report filed by Dr John Clifford, United States Department of Agriculture with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). The report was filed 1/20/2015 for an event starting on 12/29/2014.  The incident involved a Green-winged Teal:Anatidae (Anas carolinensis).

The H5N1 strain's Eurasian lineage genes ( (PB2, H5, NP, MP) are over 99% identical to a gyrfalcon H5N8 strain found in Whatcom County.  It's North American lineage gene PB1 is 98% identical to a Northern Pintail H5N2 strain also found in Whatcom County, while other North American lineage genes (PA, N1, NS) are of low pathenogenicity (LPA I), according to the report filed with the OIE. This strain is a novel strain, and is different than strains appearing in Asia.

Discussion by Recombinomics  raises "the possibility of multiple constellations with the H5N2 sero-type"

The Pacific Northwest has experienced H5N2 and H5N8 strains during this fall and winter season in bird populations, as indicated by the US Department of Agriculture.

Mallard, British Columbia

Birds affected by avian flu this fall/winter 2014/5 season have included:

H5N1:  Green-winged Teal, Whatcom County, Washington.

H5N2:  Northern Pintail (Whatcom County, Washington), Broiler, Table Egg Layer, Turkey, chickens (Southern British Columbia), ducks and geese (Clallam County, Washington), mallard (Fern Ridge, Oregon), falcons (Canyon County, Idaho), turkeys, chicken, guinea fowl, water fowl (Benton County, Washington) .

H5N8: guinea fowl, chickens, ducks, geese (Winston, Douglas County, Oregon) , Wild Ducks (Idaho), grylfalcons, American Wigeon. guinea fowl, chickens, ducks and geese (Whatcom County, Washington)

The distribution of H5N2 and H5N8 in the Pacific Northwest shows an interesting pattern. Whatcom County, adjacent to the border between Washington State and British Columbia (Sumas-Lynden border crossing) offers an opportunity for mixing of the various avian flu types, given migratory paths and poultry stocks in the area. Other areas of concentration include Benton County, Washington, near Hanford, Washington as well as areas in Oregon and Idaho.

Avian Flu has a considerable impact on bird populations.  There have been limited cases of H5N1 in the human population, although one did occur in 2014 resulting from a flight from Beijing to Vancouver Canada and on to Edmonton.

Avian influenza is a disease naturally occurring in wild aquatic birds which can infect domestic poultry and other bird and animal species.  It is very difficult for humans to become infected by avian influenza, although there have been some limited human cases.  H5N1 is sustained in the avian (bird) population but not is not currently sustained in the human population.

There has been one human death from H5N1 in North America.  On December 27, 2013, a woman travelling from Beijing, China, to Vancouver, B.C. and then onto Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, became ill on the Beijing to Vancouver leg of the flight. She was admitted on January 1, 2014 to an Edmonton hospital and died two days later.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the lead U.S. Agency for the management of health issues and has information on Avian Flu.

Recombinations and reassortments of influenza viruses provide potential opportunity for the development of new strains or of human to human transmission.  The occurrence of  H5N1, H5N2 and H5N8 in the Pacific Northwest in the fall-winter 2014-5 season raise interesting questions as to the development of the one H5N1 case identified this season and as to whether there is any relationship with the H5N1 death which occurred in the prior (2013-2014) fall-winter season.

It is interesting to consider various factors which may account for the development of highly pathenogenic avian influenza in the Pacific Northwest.  These considerations may involve the locations in which the birds were found, migratory patterns, climate change, environmental factors, and the availability of reservoirs and vectors in which the virus can mix, spread and potentially become sustained in various host or intermediate host various populations.

Marilyn Dunstan Photography
Mallard Duck Flying
Ducks

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention:
CDC
CDC-Avian Flu
Human Infection with Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Virus


World Health Organization:
WHO
WHO-Avian Flu

World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
Gyrfalcon H5N8
Northern Pintail H5N2

US Department of Agriculture (USDA-Avian Flu)

Flu.gov
Flu
H5N1

Recombinomics:
Fujian H5N1 Reassortment in Washington
Fujian H5N2 Clade 2.3.4.4 in North America
Fujian H5N8 Clade 2.3.4.4 spread in 2014

BBC News:
First N America H5N1 Bird Flu Death Confirmed in Canada

Wikipedia:
Green-Winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Influenza Virus Subtype H5N1
Influenza Virus Subtype H5N2
Influenza Virus Subtype H5N8

PANSPERMIA and EVOLUTION

Mars Spirit Lander and Bonneville Crater in Color

 Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona 

Panspermia  is a concept which portrays how life might be distributed throughout the universe.  These means include a wide variety of astronomical or celestrial objects  including meteors, comets, asteroids, and factors such as the solar wind.  The theory of panspermia, however does not really address how life began in the first place.

As man has ventured out into space, with human space travel, or has used unmanned spaceflight, the issue of man (or machine) as a vector or agent of panspermia has become an issue.  This issue parallels the concept of jet travel and airports as a vector in spreading contagion. Migratory birds have been vectors for centuries, landing in Qinghai Lake, China, a saline and alkaline lake and migratory crossroads  or in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, along the Bering Sea. . Such bird migratory pathways provide fertile ground for recombination and spread of various contagions.

The NASA photo of the Bonneville Crater and Mars Spirit Lander depicts an impact crater on Mars.  Such an impact would have created a large amount of energy upon impact.  Many theories of life involve the discussion of how reorganization and complexity arises as energy is input into a system.  The Miller and Urey experiment in 1953 attempted to address this issue through recreation of a primordial atmosphere laced with water, methane and lightning storms.
 
Henry Eyring, a chemist, discovered Actual Rate Theory or Transition State Theory, which discusses reaction rates of chemicals in the context of potential energy states, complexes activated by chemical reactions, entropy considerations and products formed by the chemical reaction. In considering the input of exogenous energy into a system, this theory would be important in examining the potential reactions that might take place, as the reaction may change the system through transformational change.

In considering the issue of panspermia, therefore, there are a couple of issues; the development of a system and then the spread of that system.  Issues of energy and mixing concern the development or the boot-strapping of a system through transformational change, while panspermia addresses the spread.  Where panspermia occurs through media that spread via impact, the two issues (bootstrapping and spread) tend to co-exist to some extent.

The concept of panspermia requires a vector that is resilient.  It must be able to adapt to environmental factors such as extremes of temperature, must be able to resist impact as well as radiation and other factors such as high levels of salinity.   Such organisms, extremophiles  fit a profile as a candidate for panspermia.

Santa Catalina Mountains seen from Saguaro National Park, Arizona

Recently, I came across an article in Applied and Environmental Microbiology (AEM) on Bacillus Endospores,  written by Patricia Fajardo-Cavazos and Wayne Nicholson, "Bacillus Endospores Isolated from Granite: Close Molecular Relationships to Globally Distributed Bacillus spp. from Endolithic and Extreme Environments".   This article discusses the issue of the diversity of Bacillus spp. populations, and specifically certain endolithic spore populations obtained from near surface granite from the Santa Catalina mountains near Tucson, Arizona.

An endospore is a tough non-reproductive surface that lies dormant for an extended period of time, and can be later revived after many years to a vegetative state.

Anthrax is a bacillus, and may exist in the dormant state as an endospore.  According to a World Health Organization document on studies of anthrax endospores (bacillus anthracis),  "Sporulation requires the presence of free oxygen. In the natural situation, this means the vegetative cycles occur within the low oxygen environment of the infected host and, within the host, the organism is exclusively in the vegetative form. Once outside the host, sporulation commences upon exposure to the air and the spore forms are essentially the exclusive phase in the environment."  Spores are thus spread by release of spores by the dying host into the environment where they are taken up by another animal.

 The focus of the AEM article is on the very issue of panspermia, the issue of transference of microbes through spaceflight, It concerns the measurement of characteristics of various endolithic spore populations obtained through a variety of near surface granites and basalts and even the ultra clean environments of spacecraft assembly facilities.

Blue fluorescence obtained through medium wavelength UV illumination, distinguished certain endospores obtained from near surface granites.  Endospores were grouped into species or strains based on their rRNA  gene sequences. Numbers and diversity of endospores from granite were greater than those obtained from basalts.  This may be due to the lower porosity of basalt versus granite. Limited subsets of Bacillus spp. appeared to occur in certain rock environments that favored them and not other strains. Certain bacillus strains (bacillus subtilis) were used as proxies for bacillus anthracis fluorescence properties in the study.

The issue of panspermia is a very important one, set in the context of space exploration and in consideration of how extraterrestrial impacts may have impacted (and may still be impacting) human life.  The AEM study provides interesting results as to the diversity and characteristics of Bacillus spp. from a variety of environments, including, importantly, granite, set in the context of fluorescence properties.   A bacillus such as anthrax, as studied by the World Health Organization (WHO) or the CDC may provide clues as to how bacillus and endospores fit into our evolutionary framework.

Flock of Snow Geese Taking off, Skagit Valley, Washington (blurredmotion)

Flock of Snow Geese Taking off, Skagit Valley, Washington (blurred motion), originally uploaded by Marilyn Dunstan Photography.

Snow Geese taking off in the Skagit Valley, Washington, shown in blurred motion.

These Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens), breed on Wrangel Island off the north coast of Siberia, and over-winter in the rich farmland of the Skagit Valley, in Northwest Washington. This flock is part of the Fraser-Skagit population, while the geese generally may visit the United States, Canada and Russia.