Sask. scientists developing vaccines to protect birds and humans from avian flu

Yan Zhou has researched influenza viruses at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) at the University of Saskatchewan for two decades, with nearly half of that time being spent looking into avian flu. She said there’s a relatively new strain causing urgent concern: H5N1.

“We have seen this contemporary H5N1 virus circulating in the world for several years, and now it seems this virus has gained ground in North America,” said Zhou, a senior research scientist and molecular biologist.

H5N1 has killed or infected 7.2 million birds across the country since Dec. 20, 2021, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

In recent months, mammals have also died from the virus, including a dog in southern Ontario.

Health Canada has not reported any domestically acquired human cases of avian flu. However, it noted in a statement to CBC News that the federal government “has agreements with several manufacturers to secure priority access and reserve production capacity if needed to rapidly manufacture and deliver large numbers of vaccine doses to help protect people.”

‘Trying to prevent the next human pandemic’

Alyson Kelvin, a virologist at VIDO whose research team is working with Zhou’s on a Canada-wide avian flu vaccine strategy, said the spike in H5N1 cases comes down to bird flyways.

Kelvin said that when birds fly south for the winter and north for the summer, the virus migrates over Canada, mixing with viruses from South America, the United States and Central America.

“Viruses mutate quite rapidly and — even though I don’t see the current H5N1 as a human health threat — we know that it can cross over and infect people,” she said. 

“We’re not just trying to prevent the next human pandemic, but also a pandemic in our agricultural species.”

Kelvin said her research team is currently building vaccine targets and incorporating previous technologies to develop the most “cutting edge” vaccines.

Meanwhile, Zhou’s team is researching to evaluate the threat avian flu has on public health.

“We want to dissect the genes or proteins that are responsible for the virus that can acquire the transmissibility between humans or mammals. After we find those characteristics, we may find a target to prevent the spillover,” she said.

Together, their end goal is to create a series of vaccines for both humans and animals that protects against avian flu. But given how fast the virus evolves, their biggest challenge is time.

“Even though the virus is smart, we are smarter,” Zhou said with a smile. 

“We are armed with knowledge and expertise to dissect the virus’s characteristics, and then we can change them back … or we can mutate those genes so they are less virulent and do not cause disease.”

The toll on poultry farmers

Kelvin said avian flu affects the poultry industry the most right now, putting producers on the front lines.

As both a poultry farmer and executive member of Turkey Farmers of Canada, Jelmer Wiersma said he’s watched and felt the impact of H5N1.

Last fall, he had to cull his flock of around 17,000 turkeys at his farm near Cudworth, Sask., roughly 90 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.

“They were sluggish and lethargic — we knew something was going on, so we got them tested. Sure enough, within a few days, we had the results back and they were positive,” he said.

“The devastation is twofold. There’s the amount of death and destruction that you’re confronted with in the barns, then there’s the reality that you have to clean the mess up.”

Wiersma added that biosecurity — keeping farms as secure and away from wild birds as possible — is key at the farmer level to help avoid avian flu. But he sees vaccines as “the way forward.”

He said many poultry farmers are eagerly waiting to see how avian flu vaccines take shape, noting that it would be easiest for farmers if they can be sprayed on the birds or ingested.

In the meantime, Wiersma said the Turkey Farmers of Canada is developing a committee of representatives from across the country to help producers deal with avian flu and the mental health toll that often comes with it.

“It’s quite devastating and daunting to have to go through that — I know it was for me,” he said.

“If you don’t have any resources to pull from, it would make it that much worse.”