Ecology and Evolution of Avian Influenza Viruses and Distribution of Influenza Receptors in Mammalian Hosts

H5N1 avian influenza continues to spread across Asia, Europe, and Africa, affecting wild birds, poultry, and humans. The virus has also killed large numbers of tigers and leopards in captive collections and threatens wild carnivores and scavengers feeding on diseased wild birds. Two key questions that need to be addressed are whether opportunities for the virus to move back and forth between wild birds, farmed waterfowl, and poultry increases selection pressure for adaptive mutations (increasing the risk of endemnicity in the various populations) and whether avian influenza receptor distribution predicts susceptibility in mammalian hosts.

The first question will be addressed by monitoring the arrival of H5N1 influenza on Chongming Island in China and characterizing the mutations and reassortments that occur as the virus moves between populations of wild birds, farmed waterfowl, and poultry. The second question will be addressed by characterizing avian and human influenza virus receptor distribution in the upper respiratory and GI tracts of a wide variety of carnivores and scavengers by lectin immunohistochemistry. Tissues for lectin staining will come from the existing archives of the Wildlife Disease Laboratories Division of CRES