Abstract Title
Genomic Monitoring of Avian Influenza: Emerging Variants and Zoonotic Risks in Chile's Agricultural Sector
Abstract
Genomic surveillance has demonstrated significant potential for promoting rapid, effective decision-making at the public policy level, where pathogen genome information is critical for preparedness and response measures on regional, national, and global scales (1). Avian influenza (AI), particularly H5N1, poses a persistent threat to the agricultural industry with recurring seasonal outbreaks in farm animals. Its zoonotic potential further raises the risk of escalating into a human influenza pandemic (2). In Chile, agriculture contributes approximately 4.7% of the national GDP and represents the country’s primary export industry after copper (3), underscoring the need for protective measures against threats to this sector. In response, the Biotechnology Laboratory of the Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero (SAG) implemented next-generation sequencing (NGS) on AI samples collected from multiple regions of Chile during the 2022-2023 outbreak as part of a genomic surveillance strategy. Our findings revealed interesting variants in the southern region of Chile: one exhibiting new mutations in the PB2 segment, suggesting increased mammalian infectivity and possible zoonotic transmission, and another with molecular markers associated with increased infectivity. This discovery underscores the importance of genomic surveillance to identify AI variants with zoonotic potential and increased infectivity, laying the foundation for an effective genomic monitoring system for pathogens of agricultural importance in Chile.
Co-Author(s)
F. Vega-Macaya, C. Ávila, M. Arancibia and C. Aguayo, Servicio Agricola y ganadero, Laboratorio de Biotecnologia
Abstract Category
Avian influenza in mammals, pandemic preparedness, and one health