Publications by authors named "T Bestebroer"
Article Synopsis
- An increase in spillover events of avian influenza A(H5N1) to mammals indicates that certain virus strains are adapting for better transmission among mammals.
- Research using air-sampling devices to monitor ferrets shows that earlier strains of A(H5N1) didn't effectively transmit due to low airborne virus shedding, not a lack of mutations needed for adaptation.
- In contrast, while human A(H1N1) was easily detected in the air, some A(H5N1) strains from 2005 and 2024 were not, although a couple of ferrets infected with a 2022 European polecat strain and a 2024 strain from a farm worker did shed infectious virus.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5) viruses globally impact wild and domestic birds, and mammals, including humans, underscoring their pandemic potential. The antigenic evolution of the A(H5) hemagglutinin (HA) poses challenges for pandemic preparedness and vaccine design. Here, the global antigenic evolution of the A(H5) HA was captured in a high-resolution antigenic map.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHighly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIVs) cause severe hemorrhagic disease in terrestrial poultry and are a threat to the poultry industry, wild life, and human health. HPAIVs arise from low pathogenic avian influenza viruses (LPAIVs), which circulate in wild aquatic birds. HPAIV emergence is thought to occur in poultry and not wild aquatic birds, but the reason for this species-restriction is not known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHighly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIVs) cause severe disease and high fatality in poultry. They emerge exclusively from H5 and H7 low pathogenic avian influenza viruses (LPAIVs). Although insertion of a furin-cleavable multibasic cleavage site (MBCS) in the hemagglutinin gene was identified decades ago as the genetic basis for LPAIV-to-HPAIV transition, the exact mechanisms underlying said insertion have remained unknown.
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