Molecular epidemiology of influenza viruses: Memorandum from a WHO Meeting

This Memorandum summarizes recent information on influenza viruses of non-human hosts, discussed at the WHO Consultation on Molecular Epidemiology of Influenza Viruses, Athens, Georgia, USA, in September 1986. It was noted that a wide variety of antigenic variants of influenza viruses have been isolated from non-human hosts, especially birds. Of particular epidemiological interest in recent years has been the isolation of H7N7 influenza viruses from epidemics of disease in seals, the isolation of an H10N7 virus from outbreaks of disease among domestic mink, and the occurrence of pathogenic avian influenza viruses in Australia, Ireland and the USA.