About the project

Specific objectives

The IAVSur – BME takes a multi-sectoral and transdisciplinary approach to the monitoring of IAV infections in wild mammals, pigs, and environment. It will enhance cross-sector cooperation at the interface of veterinary, biology, environmental activities, and public health to reach a better understanding of monitoring mechanisms of influenza viruses in animal populations and environment to provide baseline information for assessment of IAV epidemiological situation.

Specific objective 1: Determine the prevalence of IAV in the selected wild mammals and to predict possible mammal adaptations and zoonotic potential of detected viruses by WGS and data analysis. Perform molecular epidemiology to research possible co-circulation of IAV between birds, mammals, and humans.

Specific objective 2: Determine the concentration of IAV in selected environmental waters and try to find the correlations between the outbreaks of AIV and the contamination of the environment water areas by AIV. Use of IAV positive water samples as matrix for WGS and therefore enhance the detection of potential viral mutations and recombination.

Specific objective 3: Establish a system to raise awareness among owners and veterinarians about the necessity of identifying swIAV in pigs with a respiratory clinical picture. Identify possible viral 'adaptive mutations' and recombination of swIAV that may pose enhanced zoonotic potential by WGS and molecular epidemiology. Identify environmental samples from the farm as possible diagnostic samples and establish a system of non-invasive sampling for swIAV on farms with a respiratory clinical picture.

Specific objective 4: Enhance the preparedness to possible human health threat that animal IAV represent because of their recombination and mutations that may result in variants with zoonotic potential that may lead to higher rate of human infections or even pandemics. Existing algorithms for managing cases of suspected infection with animal IAV in humans will be reviewed and amended, if needed. Methods used for detection of IAV in humans will be checked for coverage of circulating animal IAV. That will be supported by a data sharing network between the veterinarian and human health authorities that will enable rapid sharing of results of detection of IAV with enhanced zoonotic potential in animals, higher rates of infections of mammals with AIV and detections of animal infections with human IAV as well as detection of any zoonotic events in humans.

Working packages

Working package 1 (WP1)

The overall objective is to ensure efficient and timely implementation of the project, and to support the responsible conduct of the activities in the project as well as to:

• ensure that the project tasks, milestones, and deliverables are achieved on time and in line with the budget,
• ensure efficient communication among the partners and with EFSA and HaDEA,
• submit periodic and final technical and financial reports,
• observe potential risks and conflicts and to mitigate them immediately and accordingly.

Leader: Aleksandra Hari

Working package 2 (WP2)

Within WP2 we will establish surveillance of IAV in wild mammals, carnivorous and omnivorous species specifically red foxes, and wild boars. The combination of active and passive surveillance will address prevalence of infection as investigated by detection of antibodies against IAV as well as IAV detection and characterisation by molecular and virological methods. The goal is to use a representative sample for each selected species collected in regions with a history of AI outbreaks.

The main tasks of WP2 are:

• determination of prevalence of IAV in the selected animal species,
• determination of genomes/determination of mutations that indicate possible mammal  adaptations,
• molecular epidemiology: IAV circulation between birds and mammals/humans,
• isolation of the virus and determination of zoonotic potential based on mammalian cell  culture growth and genome characteristics

Leader: Brigita Slavec

Working package 3 (WP3)

Within this work package we will establish monitoring of environmental samples for the presence of IAV. We will focus on water samples (and associated sediment samples) obtained from water bodies with high density of migrating and wintering water bird populations and with ongoing or otherwise with history of known outbreaks of IAV (based on present and past surveillance data). This kind of monitoring, also known as water-based epidemiology, represents an alternative to other approaches, which is not dependent on efforts linked with caught or dead animals and will provide independent insights into the appearance and epidemiology of the virus in an area linked with analysed samples.

Leader: Ion Gutierrez Aguirre

Working package 4 (WP4)

The epidemiology of swine influenza includes viruses of human, avian, and porcine origin. Pigs may play an important role as the intermediate host for other species, where reassortment and/or adaptation events occur. One of our goals is to determine which viral subtypes are circulating and are most prevalent in the pig population. Through targeted surveillance of pig farms, we will collect nasal and environmental samples for detection and subtype characterization by molecular and virological methods. Protocols for pig influenza surveillance in pigs will be established and seminars and materials will be prepared to raise awareness about swine influenza among veterinarians, breeders and the public.

Leader: Marina Štukelj