The initial H5 target is a consensus for clades 1-3 of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strains, consistent with WHO guidelines http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/guidelines/RecAIlabtestsAug07.pdf, but the region targeted by our consensus INF-A primers varies significantly from that of the highly pathogenic avian strains of Influenza A, and this was reflected in a relatively low sensitivity in the INF-A assay for H5N1. The gene discussed is IFNA17; the disease is influenza.