Post Reply - A new pandemic

But as we've discussed often, there are other zoonotic or potentially zoonotic avian flu viruses (H3, H4, H6, H9, H10, etc.) which are not reportable, and are often tolerated or ignored because they produce relatively minor financial losses to the poultry industry.

LPAI H9N2, which is now rife in poultry in Asia, the Middle East, and increasingly in Africa, is perhaps the most obvious threat.  We've seen > 140 documented human infections

But increasingly China has warned on the spread (in wild birds and poultry) and zoonotic potential of other LPAI viruses, including H3Nx, H4Nx, H6Nx, and H10Nx. 

If there is a common denominator among these varied LPAI viruses, it is that the longer they circulate in poultry, the greater the zoonotic threat they appear to pose. Their evolution may be far slower than H5 and H7 viruses, but that doesn't make them benign.  

Only easier to ignore.

Twelve years ago - during the opening salvo of H7N9's first wave in China - Taiwan reported the world's first known human infection with LPAI H6N1 (see Taiwan CDC: Epidemiological Analysis Of Human H6N1 Infection).  A year later, Taiwan reported an outbreak in dogs (see EID Journal: Influenza A(H6N1) In Dogs, Taiwan).