A novel avian paramyxovirus was identified during annual viral surveillance of wild bird populations in Kazakhstan in 2013. The virus was isolated from a white fronted goose ( Anser albifrons ) in northern Kazakhstan. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of the isolate, which we suggest should constitute a novel serotype.

Screening wild birds for avian paramyxoviruses is of increasing importance. 6913 samples of tracheal and cloacal swabs were collected during 2002–2013 and tested to study the prevalence of APMVs in wild avifauna of Kazakhstan. As a result, 45 isolates were obtained during this period and their ecological niches and genetic relationships were defined. Tracheal and cloacal samples from wild birds were collected using sterile swabs placed in viral transport medium and kept in liquid nitrogen until delivery to the laboratory. Samples were inoculated into 10-day-old embryonated chicken eggs and reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) assays were performed via a one-step protocol. The PCR products were sequenced and phylogenetic trees were constructed using the ‘Neighbour Joining’ method. Six thousand nine hundred thirteen samples from 183 bird species were investigated and 45 isolates belonging to four different serotypes APMV-1, APMV-4, APMV-6 and APMV-8 were identified. All APMVs were isolated predominantly from birds belonging to Anatidae family (ducks and geese) and only one APMV-4 isolate was obtained from shorebird (Curlew) on the Caspian seashore. Genetic studies showed that the recovered APMV-1 strains had highest homology with European isolates. APMV-4 strains isolated in 2003, and APMV-6 and APMV-8 isolated in 2013 were 99 % identical to isolates from Far East. This is the first reported characterization of avian paramyxoviruses from wild birds isolated in Kazakhstan. These data confirm the wide distribution of APMV-1, APMV-4 and APMV-6 in the Asian subcontinent. The obtained data contribute to the accumulation of knowledge on the genetic diversity and prevalence of APMVs in wild bird populations.

Three isolates APMV/gull/Kazakhstan/5976/2014, APMV/gull/Kazakhstan/ 5977/2014 and APMV/gull/Kazakhstan/5979/2014, were obtained from independent samples during annual surveillance for avian influenza and paramyxoviruses in wild birds from the Caspian Sea coast in Western Kazakhstan, and were initially identified as putative paramyxoviruses on the basis of electron microscopy. Hemagglutination Inhibition Assays with antisera to nine known APMV serotypes (APMV1-9) indicated no relation to any of them. Next generation sequencing of whole genome sequences indicated the three isolates were genetically identical, and had a nucleotide structure typical for all APMVs, consisting of six genes 3’-NP-P-M-F-HN-L-5’. Phylogenetic analyses, and assessment of amino acid identities, suggested the most closely related lineages to be APMV-2, 8, 10 and 15, but the novel isolate had less than 64% identity to them and all other known avian paramyxoviruses. This value was above levels considered to generally define other APMV serotypes. Estimates of the evolutionary divergence of the nucleotide sequences of the genomes of APMVs have shown that novel Kazakhstan APMV strain was closest to APMV-2, APMV-8, APMV-10 and APMV-15, with calculated distance values of 2.057, 2.058, 2.026 and 2.286 respectively, which is above values considered to differentiate other serotypes (observed minimum was 1.108 between APMV-1 and recently isolated APMV/UPO216/Korea). Together, the data suggest that isolate APMV/gull/Kazakhstan/5976/2014 and other two should be considered as the first representative of a novel APMV-20 group, and is the first time that avian paramyxoviruses have been found infecting members of the gull family, extending the known taxonomic host range.

Mass mortality in Caspian terns (Hydroprogne caspia), Pallas’s gulls (Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus), and Caspian gulls (Larus cachinnans) was recorded on the northeastern shores of the Caspian Sea in June 2022. More than 5000 gulls and terns died due to the outbreak. The outbreak was investigated in the field, and representative numbers of samples were collected and analyzed using pathological, virological, and molecular methods. Highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) viruses were detected and isolated from samples collected from dead birds. Genetic and phylogenetic analyses indicated that the hemagglutinin (HA) genes belonged to the clade 2.3.4.4.b of the H5Nx HPAI viruses, B2 sub-lineage, and were closely related to the highly pathogenic influenza viruses, caused an outbreak in wild birds with a high mortality rate in the western part of the Caspian Sea.

Bats are an important natural reservoir of various pathogenic microorganisms, and regular monitoring is necessary to track the situation of zoonotic infections. When examining samples from bats in South Kazakhstan, nucleotide sequences of putative novel bat adenovirus (AdV) species were found. Estimates of amino acid identities of the hexon protein have shown that potentially novel Bat mastadenovirus BatAdV-KZ01 shared higher similarity with monkey Rhesus adenovirus 59 (74.29%) than with Bat AdVs E and H (74.00%). Phylogenetically, BatAdV-KZ01 formed a separate clade, distant from Bat AdVs and other mammalian AdVs. Since adenoviruses are essential pathogens for many mammals, including humans and bats, this finding is of interest from both scientific and epidemiological points of view.