It’s Not What You Know, But What You Do With What You Know

Director, Division of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Padova, Italy

Summary

Two and a half years after the emergence of the first pandemic influenza virus of the 21st century, we are certain there is space for improvement in the area of preparedness, and thus for mitigation. The persistence of a dogmatic approach for controlling factors underlying the emergence of influenza virus strains that are capable of both jumping the species barrier and spreading among human populations has produced negative outcomes. Such consequences range from mistrust of public health authorities to the delayed availability of vaccines. For this reason, our prediction skills must be improved, and the first step in this direction is to be able to comprehensively analyze the pandemic potential of animal influenza viruses. Paradoxically, we have the dataset, but we just do not look at it with the appropriate tools and mindset. What we need is a “One Flu” approach. This approach includes the development of a permanent observatory (either virtual or physical), including analytic tools that can identify and grade animal strains that fulfill some or all the requisites of a pandemic virus before the virus becomes a problem in humans. This would enable us to have a library of “potentially pandemic” strains which can be used as seeds for vaccine manufacture to ensure product availability in a shorter period of time. The creation of an interdisciplinary data library requires an ongoing and timely mechanism to ensure transparency between the veterinary and medical communities on genetic and epidemiological data, which are routinely collected through surveillance efforts worldwide; such a library is in line with the “One Health” vision. This interdisciplinary approach would pave the way for similar methodologies applicable to other emerging and zoonotic infectious diseases, thus complementing other efforts in the fields of preparedness, response, and mitigation.