Background: Avian influenza viruses are still causing major concern not only to the poultry industry but also to human health across the globe. The live poultry markets and the small-scale local breeding of various species of birds in backyards are still playing important roles in the sustainability of most virulent influenza viruses, especially H5N8.

Methods: The authors investigated an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8 in backyard flocks in Al Ahsa, Eastern Saudi Arabia that occurred in 2017-2018.

Results: A range of poultry including chickens, ostriches, ducks, pigeons and turkeys were clinically affected. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that this was a common source outbreak caused by a virus closely related to H5N8 viruses causing outbreaks elsewhere in Saudi Arabia in early 2018.

Conclusions: Small backyard flocks are still contributing to the epidemiology and transmission of H5N8.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6924712PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/vetreco-2019-000362DOI Listing

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