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Since the arrival of clade 2.3.4.4b avian influenza A(H5N1) in North America in late 2021, frequent mammal spillover events have occurred in a diverse range of species, including 1 human [...]

Background In recent years, Vietnam has suffered multiple epizootics of influenza in poultry. Methods From 10 January 2019 to 26 April 2021, we employed a One Health influenza surveillance approach at live bird markets (LBMs) and swine farms in Northern Vietnam. When the COVID-19 pandemic permitted, each month, field teams collected oral secretion samples from poultry and pigs, animal facility bioaerosol and fecal samples, and animal worker nasal washes at 4 LBMs and 5 swine farms across 5 sites. Initially samples were screened with molecular assays followed by culture in embryonated eggs (poultry swabs) or Madin-Darby canine kidney cells (human or swine swabs). Results Many of the 3493 samples collected had either molecular or culture evidence for influenza A virus, including 314 (37.5%) of the 837 poultry oropharyngeal swabs, 144 (25.1%) of the 574 bioaerosol samples, 438 (34.9%) of the 1257 poultry fecal swab samples, and 16 (1.9%) of the 828 human nasal washes. Culturing poultry samples yielded 454 influenza A isolates, 83 of which were H5, and 70 (84.3%) of these were highly pathogenic. Additionally, a positive human sample had a H9N2 avian-like PB1 gene. In contrast, the prevalence of influenza A in the swine farms was much lower with only 6 (0.4%) of the 1700 total swine farm samples studied, having molecular evidence for influenza A virus. Conclusions This study suggests that Vietnam's LBMs continue to harbor high prevalences of avian influenza A viruses, including many highly pathogenic H5N6 strains, which will continue to threaten poultry and humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China now tops the list of countries with the largest annual number of scientific publications. At the same time, China also leads the list of countries with the highest proportion of scientific publication retractions. The rise in this academic misconduct in China has given Chinese researchers a bad reputation and likely led to lower manuscript acceptance rates in academic journals. Plagiarism can be thwarted by strengthening ethics training for students and researchers, as well as implementing penalties for plagiarism offenses in universities, research institutions, and academic journals. The aims of this review are to summarize the characteristics of different types of plagiarism, to offer suggestions for incorporating ethical training into Chinese educators' curricula, as well as to point to various available scientific ethics training resources.

Since the 1990s, multiple infectious diseases have “spilled over” from nonhuman animals to infect humans and cause significant global morbidity and mortality. Despite efforts to detect and respond to such threats, surveillance and mitigation efforts have been criticized as ineffective. This article describes what “spillover” and “spillback” events are and canvasses 5 ways in which clinicians can improve emerging microbial pathogen, especially viral, detection and containment responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the extensive host range of influenza A viruses, it is difficult to determine the best diagnostic algorithm to efficiently screen samples from a variety of host species for influenza A viruses. While there are some influenza diagnostic algorithms that are specific to host species, to our knowledge, no single algorithm exists for the characterization of influenza A viruses across multiple host species. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that can serve as a guide for screening human, animal, and environmental samples for influenza A viruses of high human and animal health importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equine influenza is a common, highly contagious respiratory disease of equids with a near-global distribution. Central Asia, Australia, and Japan experienced large equine influenza virus (EIV) outbreaks in 2007 (1,2). [...]

A study was conducted in northern Vietnam to investigate the prevalence and potential spillover of coronaviruses (CoVs) among swine workers. Nasal wash samples were collected from 401 swine workers on five swine farms and screened for coronaviruses. Three workers (0.75%) tested positive for CoVs, specifically the human coronavirus 229E strain. No spillover of swine coronaviruses (SCoVs) was detected. The study suggests that there may be a low prevalence of CoVs among swine workers and their swine, potentially due to increased biosecurity protocols on the farms. Further research with a larger cohort is recommended to better understand the threat of novel CoVs spilling over into humans. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses the absence of Influenza D virus (IDV) in a study conducted on swine farms in multiple provinces of China. IDV is a type of influenza virus that was first discovered in pigs in the United States in 2011 and has since been detected in various animal species. The study collected samples from swine farms in Jiangsu and Shandong Provinces over a five-year period and tested them for IDV using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The results showed no detection of IDV in the samples, which is consistent with a previous study in Vietnamese swine farms. The authors suggest that periodic surveillance for IDV should continue to better understand the virus's ecology and potential impact on agriculture and human health. [Extracted from the article]

An increasing body of literature suggests that aerosol inhalation plays a primary role in COVID-19 transmission, particularly in indoor settings. Mechanistic stochastic models can help public health professionals, engineers, and space planners understand the risk of aerosol transmission of COVID-19 to mitigate it. We developed such model and a user-friendly web application to meet the need of accessible risk assessment tools during the COVID-19 pandemic. We built our model based on the Wells-Riley model of respiratory disease transmission, using quanta emission rates obtained from COVID-19 outbreak investigations. In this report, three modelled scenarios were evaluated and compared to epidemiological studies looking at similar settings: classrooms, weddings, and heavy exercise sessions. We found that the risk of long-range aerosol transmission increased 309–332% when people were not wearing masks, and 424–488% when the room was poorly ventilated in addition to no masks being worn across the scenarios. Also, the risk of transmission could be reduced by ∼40–60% with ventilation rates of 5 ACH for 1–4 h exposure events, and ∼70% with ventilation rates of 10 ACH for 4 h exposure events. Relative humidity reduced the risk of infection (inducing viral inactivation) by a maximum of ∼40% in a 4 h exposure event at 70% RH compared to a dryer indoor environment with 25% RH. Our web application has been used by more than 1000 people in 52 countries as of September 1st, 2021. Future work is needed to obtain SARS-CoV-2 dose–response functions for more accurate risk estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]