CIHR Catalyst Grant : Avian Influenza One Health Research

Well-being, Health and Biomedical Discovery

Deadlines

Academic Unit: inquire with unit

Memorial Deadline: Monday 8th, July 2024

External Deadline: Thursday 11th, July 2024

Description

Avian influenza is a viral disease which primarily affects birds, although transmission to mammals including people has been demonstrated to occur sporadically. Avian influenza virus has varying levels of pathogenicity, depending on its subtype. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (hereafter referred to as HPAI) subtypes can rapidly cause high levels of sickness and mortality in domestic and wild birds and can pose a significant health threat to people.

Since 2021, a growing number of HPAI outbreaks due to subtype H5N1 have occurred in domestic poultry flocks and wild bird populations around the world, including in the Americas. In Canada, H5N1 avian influenza cases have been detected in wild birds in all provinces and territories (PTs), in domestic poultry in 9 provinces, and in wild or domestic mammals in 10 provinces and 1 territory. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has estimated that as of April 10, 2024, H5N1 avian influenza has impacted 11 million birds in Canada¹. Since 2022, 25 human cases of H5N1 avian influenza have been reported globally although none of them in Canada². In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed the detection of H5N1 avian influenza in dairy herds in 5 states in the U.S highlighting multiple instances of spillover from birds to domestic mammals³. On April 1, 2024, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed that an individual who worked on a commercial dairy farm in Texas tested positive for avian influenza A(H5N1) and had exposure to dairy cattle presumed to be infected with HPAI A(H5N1). The viral genome for the sample collected from the infected individual had the PB2 E627K mutation, associated with mammalian adaptation.

The priorities for this funding opportunity have been informed by several meetings, events, expert panels and reports on the state of the science related to H5Nx and evidence gaps. This includes activities led by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and the Office of the Chief Science Advisor bringing together researchers, government scientists and representatives from federal departments and agencies through a series of meetings, commissioned risk assessments and expert consultations. A cross-cutting need that has been identified through these inputs is the importance of integrating and operationalizing a One Health approach to advance our understanding of the intersecting human, animal, and environmental dimensions of avian influenza when designing and implementing interventions to address the risk posed by this virus. This is the first of two Funding Opportunities launched by CIHR and led by the Centre for Research on Pandemic Preparedness and Health Emergencies (CRPPHE) that will support research on Avian Influenza. This first Funding Opportunity will fund rapid research on the most time-sensitive evidence gaps and immediate research needs related to the current outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) in animals and the risk of zoonotic spillover to human populations. A second Funding Opportunity will be launched in Fall 2024 to continue to address ongoing or newly emerging evidence gaps related to avian influenza.

The CRPPHE and partners will organize knowledge mobilization opportunities to ensure that research is shared with relevant knowledge users in a timely fashion in response to the evolving H5N1 outbreak. This includes a kick-off meeting to connect funded research teams with potential collaborators and knowledge users representing human, animal, and environmental health perspectives, such as intramural scientists, public health, decision-makers, and communities who may be at an increased risk of the direct and indirect impacts of avian influenza (such as Indigenous communities).

See ResearchNet for more information.

Funding Sources

Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR)