Reducing the Economic and Zoonotic Impact of Avian Influenza (REZIAI): delivering novel vaccines and diagnostics from laboratory to the field.

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Safe and disease-free poultry production systems are crucial for maintaining global food supplies and improving the livelihoods of smallholder farming communities. However, emergence, re-emergence, and continued prevalence of a diverse range of avian influenza viruses (AIVs) in recent years threaten the sustainable growth of the poultry sector. Furthermore, continued circulation of these viruses in birds remains a credible threat for zoonotic infection and pandemic emergence. This is specifically impacting the socio-economic well-being of low-income farmers in the low and middle-income countries (LMIC) such as Vietnam and Pakistan, where a high proportion of the farming workforce are women and young people, and poultry farming is one of the main sources of their livelihood. Control of these viruses presents formidable challenges to public health and veterinary infrastructures. Despite implementing disease control approaches including culling of infected and contact flocks, movement restrictions, and vaccination, viruses continue to cause devastating damage to poultry production in Pakistan and Vietnam. Continuous prevalence of these viruses in birds increases the opportunity for world-wide dissemination through trade and migratory birds. Specific and accurate detection of circulating viruses and vaccination is the key control measure employed to reduce disease impact. However, these viruses evolve over time acquiring antigenic changes resulting in vaccine and diagnostics failure. Therefore, improved disease control is critical for breaking the endemic cycle of these viruses within farming systems. The work under ZELS programme developed knowledge in how AIVs evade vaccine induced immunity in poultry. The project also developed new vaccine technologies and used avian viruses as vaccine vectors to protect chickens and ducks from avian influenza together with Marek's disease and duck plague respectively. Additionally, we developed diagnostic assays that can be used for rapid detection and differentiation of different AIVs subtypes near the flock-side. We also estimated the zoonotic risks of AIV to farming communities in Vietnam and cost of disease impacting poultry rearing systems in Pakistan. This project will utilise these data sets, resources and technologies to further improve vaccines and diagnostics and transfer them to the collaborating laboratories in Vietnam and Pakistan. This will increase their capacity and capability to produce in country next generation innovative disease control tools. Estimating losses in the poultry value chain due to AIV infection and the potential benefits of new improved disease control systems will increase the confidence of farmers to new technical solutions protecting animals along with themselves from infectious viral diseases. Altogether, increasing capacity and capability for local production of improved disease control tools will aid in the reduction of poultry production losses and thus be important for global food security and improved animal welfare, whilst also reducing possible zoonotic transmission to humans. Thus, the proposed research partnership will provide direct benefits to farming communities and substantial indirect economic, public health, environmental and social benefits on a global scale.