June 12, 2024

Washington State University laboratory awarded US$1.5 million grant to track respiratory pathogens

The Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WADDL) at Washington State University (WSU), US, has received a US$1.5 million grant to identify and monitor respiratory pathogens in the US Pacific Northwest that have the potential to spread between humans and livestock.

This initiative includes the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1, which has recently crossed from birds into dairy cattle.

Significant research has been conducted on zoonotic diseases, those that can spread between animals and humans. However, there has been limited focus on small- and medium-sized ruminant hosts, such as cattle, goats, and sheep. These species have been under sampled, and there is a need for better understanding of virus transmission between animals and humans, especially at events like county fairs where people and animals interact closely.

"These species have the potential to spread diseases to humans," said Dr Thomas Waltzek, a virologist at WADDL in the College of Veterinary Medicine, who is leading the new project along with WADDL's executive director, Dr Kevin Snekvik. "It's about detecting these diseases quickly, determining if the viruses have pandemic potential, and taking immediate corrective actions to hopefully prevent a pandemic."

The project is funded by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the Washington Department of Health. It allows WADDL to expand its ongoing surveillance of avian flu and other zoonotic diseases like SARS-CoV-2 as part of the Pathogen Genomics Centres of Excellence, a national network of labs dedicated to preparing for and responding to infectious disease threats.

WADDL joined this network in 2023, making infrastructure updates and adding positions, including those in its new next-generation sequencing (NGS) section. This section was created to quickly sequence genomes of infectious agents to track the spread of emerging diseases that pose risks to human and animal health. The broader mission of this national one-health network is to detect viruses with pandemic potential and use that information to take preventive actions.

Although WADDL and its partners have been tracking H5N1 in domestic and wild birds for some time, its jump into dairy cattle was unexpected. WADDL quickly confirmed the first H5N1 cases in dairy cattle farms in Idaho and sequenced the viral genomes to demonstrate that recently transported dairy cattle from Texas had brought the virus with them.

As of May 29, 2024, H5N1 has been detected in dairy herds in nine states. Two dairy farm workers have contracted the virus, but the CDC says the risk to the public is low. While the disease is not causing cattle deaths, it is negatively affecting milk production in affected animals. The introduction of HPAI into dairy herds likely occurred through exposure to wild birds, followed by cow-to-cow spread.

-      WSU Insider