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An important ahead-of-print article on the possible origins of the H7N9 virus has been published by researchers from the Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Hangzhou, China in the journal Zoonoses and Public Health . The researchers conducted genetic analyses of environment samples, human samples, and domestic and wild avian samples of the H7N9 virus from several provinces in the eastern portion of the People‘s Republic of China (PRC). The article, entitled Hypothesis On The Source, Transmission and Characteristics of Infection of Avian Influenza A (H7N9) Virus – Based On Analysis of Field Epidemiological Investigation and Gene Sequence Analysis is behind a John Wiley & Sons paywall. However, within the freely available abstract, these Chinese researchers propose that the H7N9 virus now infecting people and domestic poultry originated with migratory bird populations in the Taihu Lake area of Zhejiang Province. Their analysis suggests that . . . avi...

At Epidemic - Molecular Epidemiology and Evolution of Viral Pathogens , Andrew Rambaut has compiled a list of 21 recently reported sequences of the Middle East Respiratory Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).[1] Lacking age and sex, and only having the collection date makes it difficult to correlate the sequence samples with previous, individually identified cases in the KSA. For provinces and cities in KSA that have only a few reported MERS-CoV cases, correlation of the sequences with individual cases is straight forward as the sample name is a clue to the geographic location.  For several of the recently released sequences, case information is provided below.  Bisha_1_2012 is likely from the 60-year-old-male from the town of Bisha in Asir Province. He experienced onset on June 6, 2012, was hospitalized on June 13, 2012 and died on June 24, 2012. He is not reported as part of any cluster of cases.  Riyadh_1_2012 is likely from a retired 70-year...