Live bird markets (LBMs) in Cambodia exhibit high levels of avian influenza virus (AIV) circulation, co-circulation of multiple strains and are associated with sporadic human infections. The drivers and mechanisms behind AIV emergence in these unique systems need to be elucidated.
National-scale data about poultry population, trading and production practices, biosecurity levels, as well as AIV infection rates in poultry, wild birds and other potential animal hosts, and human exposure, will be generated from LBMs, poultry farms and free-ranging flocks in Cambodia.
Novel phylodynamic approaches will be developed to understand how AIV evolve, reassort, transmit and emerge in these complex ecosystems, integrating all generated data.
TrackFLU is a ERC Starting Grant project led by Claire Guinat, research fellow at INRAE, who in partnership with Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, will concentrate their efforts in areas where maintenance, spread and emergence of new avian influenza strains are occurring to understand, quantify and predict future outbreaks.