In the books we read about for this class, more specifically Spillover, the authors discussed zoonoses and its potential to be a cesspool for infecting human populations. One area of particular concern was the idea of live-animal markets to be sold off for food. A new study published discovered a way to detect influenza A viruses at such markets in Vietnam. This study, conducted by Gregory C. gray from Duke University discussed how “Markets often contain dozens of venders and thousands of birds”. This puts vendors, consumers, and outside visitors at risk for contracting influenza A among other viral diseases.
The study used aerosol samplers in a large wholesale poultry market in Hanoi, Vietnam. They simultaneously conducted oropharyngeal (or OP for short) swabs on some of the poultry in the market. Once enough time has passed, the researchers used real-time PCR tests and found that “90% of aerosol samples and 47% of OP pool swabs were positive for influenza A”. The presence of influenza A in the air was confirmed by the positive OP tests, and the risk for the virus spilling over from animal to human was confirmed by the aerosol tests.
The results from this study could be used in the future for preventing influenza outbreaks. Even more so, the aerosol sampling is a non-invasive way of tracking disease movement, and an effective one at that too. Hopefully, this could be a low-cost resource for tracking diseases, but even more so, preventing outbreaks and public health concerns.
-Noah Magbual
Read more here: https://www.healio.com/infectious-disease/influenza/news/in-the-journals/%7B65a18be0-42d9-4152-9aa7-4dd75d00935c%7D/aerosol-sampling-could-detect-new-flu-viruses-in-live-bird-markets
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