Parts of North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa are currently experiencing outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu. H5N1 is present in all major flyways globally, with millions of affected birds including over 7 million in Canada and 500,000 in Saskatchewan.
The COVID-19 pandemic, and discovery of SARS-CoV-2–like viruses in Rhinolophus bats, reinforced the need to identify wildlife sources of zoonotic pathogens and to forecast where and when ‘spillover’ to humans is likely.
VIDO’s scientists, Drs Neeraj Dhar and Alyson Kelvin, were awarded support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Project Grant Fall 2022 Competition to target priority human diseases.