A consortium lead by scientists from the Pirbright Institute has received close to $2 million from the U.K. Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council and the Department of Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs to review future strategies to address outbreaks of Avian Influenza.  The consortium will include academics, representatives of government research institutes and other interested scientists. 

Objectives of the project include:

• Gaining an appreciation of the extent, distribution and transmission of avian influenza
• Gathering information on strains of avian influenza virus in circulation
• Defining the epidemiology of avian influenza in wild and commercial bird populations
• Developing strategies to reduce the risk of disease and potential zoonotic transmission to humans

Professor Munir Iqbal, Head of the Avian Influenza research group at the Pirbright Institute, stated, “Avian influenza is an economically important virus that has devastating effects on the poultry industry.”  He added, “An improved understanding of the virus will give us more insight into how it spreads and informal control strategies to prevent it from it from spreading to people and other animals.”

It is noted that the H5N1 strain of Avian Influenza, responsible for the 2022 epornitic in the U.S. and Canada, has been isolated from foxes and other mammalian species that potentially could become reservoirs of infection.