Sequence and residue numbering in this analysis correspond to the neuraminidase [Genbank: ACP41107.1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/protein/227809834] representative for the new strain. Sequence analysis was carried out following an established protocol using the ANNIE resource [4, 5] . The 469 amino acid long neuraminidase (NA) protein ( Figure 1 ) is essential for release of the viral particle from the outer membrane of infected cells by cleaving sialic acid from host glycoproteins that are recognized by the viral hemagglutinin [6] . As a type II transmembrane protein, it is N-terminally attached to the membrane [7] . It consists of a tiny cytoplasmic tail at the N-terminus (residues 1 to 6) [8] followed by the transmembrane region (residues 7 to 34) that is also responsible for translocation of the protein [9] .