K-State veterinary researchers watch for next influenza strain

As seasonal influenza cases decrease across the United States, Kansas State University researchers are preparing for the next potential virulent strain of flu.

The work is starting with swine in the field. Juergen Richt, DVM, PhD, professor of veterinary medicine and director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases, and Wenjun Ma, BVSc, MVSc, PhD, assistant professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology, are surveying for swine influenza viruses as part of a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

“Swine influenza are constantly changing,” Richt says in a release from K-State. “There's a constant mutational rate, and sometimes they're changing very rapidly using a mechanism called reassortment-gene segments from one influenza virus are mixed with gene segments from a different influenza virus. We are very concerned about these genes coming together to create new surface proteins that have not been seen in the human population.”

The researchers are collecting samples from diseased pig populations recorded by the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and the Abilene Animal Hospital. These samples are analyzed to determine if the swine influenza could be a danger to humans.

“Swine influenza viruses infect swine and cause a respiratory disease in pigs, but they sometimes have the ability to transmit from pigs to humans,” Richt says. “We hope that we are early enough in discovering these novel swine influenza viruses so that we can isolate and characterize these viruses and alert the respective authorities to control and eradicate them as soon as possible.”

The Kansas State University research team has been working on this project for six years. It previously discovered a novel influenza subtype in swine from Missouri. Richt says this novel H2N3 virus was created through a reassortment from a duck influenza virus and an endemic swine influenza virus, which could have been very dangerous to human health. As the team monitored the influenza, the virus died out before it could spread.

“I think it is very important work because influenza is a threat to public health and animal health. We are providing very important information for the industry,” Ma says.

The project is part of the Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance and is in collaboration with the infectious diseases department at St. Jude Children's Hospital.