Virtual Webinar, Friday, May 23, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p4hmnbQBfA
This informative webinar – as led by Dr. Samira Mubareka (Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre) and Dr. Jimmy Dikeakos (Western University) – provided over 170 participants with a scientific update on the global change in HPAI epidemiology.
Session Overview:
Continental and intercontinental waves of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) influenza A(H5N1) virus in wild birds and domestic poultry have been punctuated by viral reassortment and spillover into mammals. This global change in HPAI epidemiology has been associated with a hemagglutinin (HA) sub-clade, 2.3.4.4b. Spillover to dairy cattle and humans and the emergence of antiviral resistant influenza A(H5N1) HPAI virus have raised the concern of pandemic risk as the virus continues to also acquire mammalian adaptations associated with enhanced pathogenesis.
Learning Objectives:
- Enhance current knowledge on influenza A(H5N1) HPAI virus in the context of a novel, mammalian host (cattle).
- Advance understanding of HPAI transmission, and implications for human and animal health.
- To discuss the emergence of antiviral resistant influenza A(H5N1) HPAI virus.
Co-hosts:
- Dr. Samira Mubareka, Sunnybrook Research Institute and University of Toronto
- Dr. Jimmy Dikeakos, Western University
Speakers:
- Dr. Yan Zhou, University of Saskatchewan
- Dr. Anthony Signore, National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Sponsors:
- Many thanks to CIHR for supporting this knowledge transfer event.
