CASCIRE Contributes to Control and Prevention of Influenza Outbreaks from Migratory Birds

The Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Influenza Research and Early-warning (CASCIRE) was established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in December 2014 with the support of nine organizations: Institute of Microbiology, Institute of Zoology, Institute of Biophysics, Beijing Institutes of Life Science, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Institute Pasteur of Shanghai, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology at CAS, and the Chinese Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC).

Directed by Prof. George F. Gao (Director of the CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, Vice-President of Beijing Institutes of Life Science and Deputy Director-General of China CDC), CASCIRE is fully committed to the prevention and control of the threat from influenza and other acute infectious disease outbreaks.  CASCIRE aims to achieve this goal by supporting research activities, which include studies on the basic biology of influenza viruses, such as: interspecies transmission and replication, pathogenesis, immunology and epidemiology in order to develop novel, improved diagnostics as well as efficacious medical countermeasures. Although CASCIRE is a recently established organization, it has already made many timely and important contributions, including highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV), subtypes H5N1, H7N9, H10N8, H5N6, H6N1, as well as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

During late 2014 and early 2015, a team led by Dr. BI Yuhai was the first to respond to a cluster of mysterious deaths in wild swans in Sanmenxia, Henan Province.  The team rapidly identified a novel HPAIV, subtype H5N1 as the etiological agent behind the outbreak, and made timely recommendations to prevent the spread of the virus.  After the outbreak was controlled, the team then performed in-depth studies in the avian populations in Sanmenxia to determine and systematically analyze the number of species present, in addition to their lifestyle and migratory patterns.  These studies will be important for predicting future outbreaks of HPAIV.  Experimental results with the novel Sanmenxia-like H5N1 viruses were recently published in the journal Scientific Reports (Bi Y et al, Sci Rep. 2015 Aug 11; 5:12986).

Based on these results, the team continued to perform surveillance studies, with particular emphasis along the known seasonal flight paths of wild migratory birds in China.  In May 2015, another cluster of mysterious deaths had occurred in wild birds, this time amongst black-necked grebes in Uxin Banner, Inner Mongolia.  Under Prof. George Gao's leadership, a team consisting of Drs. BI Yuhai and Gary Wong responded to an invitation by the Department of Forestry in Erdos, Inner Mongolia, to investigate and identify the cause of the outbreak.  After three days, the etiologic agent was determined to be the H5N1 subtype of HPAIV.  Recommendations were provided to the relevant departments in a timely manner to prevent outbreak spread. In-depth, comprehensive characterization of the novel virus revealed that the virus was virtually identical to the H5N1 HPAIV isolated during the outbreak in Sanmenxia.  Analyzing the known migratory flight paths of wild birds, it was determined that susceptible wild birds (e.g. ducks) had carried the virus from Sanmenxia to Uxin Banner, resulting in the sudden deaths of the local black-necked grebes.