Goose Guandong virus

The Goose Guandong virus is a variant of the orthomyxovirus subtype H5N1. It is primarily an avian virus, but is thought to be the genetic origin of the current Z genotype of the H5N1 "bird flu" virus currently affecting the Far East. The conversion to the Z genotype probably occurred by reassortment with a teal virus H6N2 during a mixed influenza infection. This virus only shares two out of its eight RNA strands with the Z genotype H5N1, and this is a result of genetic reassortment with the teal virus (and possibly an H9N2 quail virus).

It was first identified in 1997 around the time of the first H5N1 outbreak in Hong Kong. The virus is so named as it was first identified in a goose in the Guangdong province of China. As of 2006 the province was the focus of an avian flu epidemic.