Iceland: An underestimated hub for the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses in the North Atlantic: Datasets on phylogeographic analyses

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) of the goose/Guangdong lineage are enzootically circulating in wild bird populations worldwide. This increases risks for incursions into poultry productions and spill-over transmissions to mammal species including humans. Better understanding of the ecological and epizootiological networks of these viruses is pivotal to optimize mitigating measures. Based on full genome sequences of 26 HPAIV samples from Iceland, which were collected between spring and autumn 2022, as well as one sample from the 2023 summer period we show that three different genotypes of HPAIV H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b were circulating within the wild bird population in Iceland in 2022. Furthermore, in 2023 we observed a novel introduction of HPAIV H5N5 of the same clade to Iceland. The data support the role of Iceland as an utmost Northwestern distribution area in Europe which might act also as a potential bridging point for intercontinental spread of HPAIV across the North Atlantic.