Related topics: influenza · swine flu · flu · influenza virus · virus

Bird flu fells nearly 9,000 marine creatures in Chile

Nearly 9,000 sea lions, penguins, otters and small cetaceans have died in an avian flu outbreak battering Chile's north coast, the South American country's fisheries service said Thursday.

Orthomyxoviridae

Influenzavirus A Influenzavirus B Influenzavirus C Isavirus Thogotovirus

The Orthomyxoviridae (orthos, Greek for "straight"; myxa, Greek for "mucus") are a family of RNA viruses that includes five genera: Influenzavirus A, Influenzavirus B, Influenzavirus C, Isavirus and Thogotovirus. The first three genera contain viruses that cause influenza in vertebrates, including birds (see also avian influenza), humans, and other mammals. Isaviruses infect salmon; thogotoviruses infect vertebrates and invertebrates, such as mosquitoes and sea lice.

The three genera of Influenzavirus, which are identified by antigenic differences in their nucleoprotein and matrix protein infect vertebrates as follows:

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