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We need to keep an eye on avian influenza

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 23, pages 267–268 (2023)Cite this article

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H5N1 avian influenza viruses of the A/goose/Guangdong/1/96 lineage have been circulating in wild birds for many years, have inflicted significant economic losses on the poultry industry and have caused zoonotic infections since 1997. However, the recent spread of avian H5N1 virus to the Americas and its detection in mammals have raised concerns about its pandemic potential.

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Acknowledgements

The Krammer laboratory receives support for work in the immunology, virology, therapeutics and vaccine space from NIAID Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response (CEIRR, 75N93021C00014) and Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVICs, 75N93019C00051) contracts, as well as NIAID grants and contracts U19 AI168631, R01 AI154470, U19 AI162130, R01 AI137146, U01 AI144616, HHSN272201800048C and U19 AI118610. Additional support comes from FluLab and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Finally, the laboratory is also supported by NCI U54 CA260560 and by the Serological Sciences Network (SeroNet) in part with Federal funds from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, under Contract No. 75N91019D00024, Task Order No. 75N91021F00001. The Schultz-Cherry laboratory receives support from NIAID Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response (CEIRR, 75N93021C00016 and 75N93021C00018) and Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVICs, 75N93019C00052) contracts, as well as NIAID grant 5R01AI140766-04. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products or organizations imply endorsement by the US Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Florian Krammer

  2. Center for Vaccine Research and Pandemic Preparedness (C-VaRPP), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Florian Krammer

  3. Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell Based Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Florian Krammer

  4. Department of Infectious Diseases, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

    Stacey Schultz-Cherry

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  1. Florian Krammer
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  2. Stacey Schultz-Cherry
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Florian Krammer or Stacey Schultz-Cherry.

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Competing interests

F.K. has been consulting for Curevac, Seqirus and Merck and is currently consulting for Pfizer, Third Rock Ventures, Avimex and GSK. He is named on several patents regarding influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, influenza virus therapeutics and SARS-CoV-2 serological tests. Some of these technologies have been licensed to commercial entities and F.K. is receiving royalties from these entities. F.K. is also an advisory board member of Castlevax, a spin-off company formed by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to develop SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. The Krammer laboratory has received funding for research projects from Pfizer, GSK and Dynavax and three of F.K.’s mentees have recently joined Moderna. S.S.-C. declares no competing interests.

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Krammer, F., Schultz-Cherry, S. We need to keep an eye on avian influenza. Nat Rev Immunol 23, 267–268 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-023-00868-8

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