Funding totaling $4.1 million will fuel four novel studies focused on diseases that spread between animals and humans, including highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 viruses, which have been found in more than 120 bird and mammalian species, including cattle, cats, and dogs. H5N1 has also spread to people in close contact with dairy cattle and poultry—causing at least one human death—since 2024.
“All of them have public health significance,” Suresh Kuchipudi, PhD, MVSc, MBA, professor and chair, Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, and principal investigator, says of studies, which range from mechanisms of viral infiltration into different tissues to developing new, more portable tools to aid viral detection and novel vaccines to be tested in cattle.
“It’s only a matter of time before this virus starts circulating among people,” says Kuchipudi. “It hasn’t happened yet, but we know how quickly that can change with zoonotic viruses, he adds, noting the emergence of COVID-19.
Emerging zoonotic infectious diseases pose a significant global threat, jeopardizing public health, animal health, food security and economic stability. The ongoing H5N1 outbreak has already had severe consequences: millions of poultry have been culled, egg prices have reached record highs, concerns are growing over viral shedding in raw milk and human infections are on the rise.
Each study is funded for a period of three years. They are:
Cellular and molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity and tissue tropism of influenza A H5N1 virus in cattle
National Institute of Food and Agriculture – $649,997
Unlike birds and other animals, in which the virus targets the lungs and brain, viral infection in dairy cattle causes severe udder inflammation known as mastitis, resulting in thick, clotted milk and decreased milk production. More troubling are the elevated levels of virus that are shed in the milk of affected cows—contamination that has been linked to cow-to-cow viral transmission through milking machines and fatalities among cats that consume infected raw milk, raising serious risks to animal and food safety.
“In the early part of 2024, even people who had been studying these viruses for decades would have remotely predicted that cattle could be a host for bird flu,” says Kuchipudi.
Using primary cell culture models under carefully controlled lab conditions in Pitt’s Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, the Kuchipudi team will safely examine how H5N1 “bird flu” infects udder tissue in cattle and triggers mastitis, helping pinpoint the biological steps that lead to inflammation and virus shedding in milk.
Innovative serological surveillance and vaccine solutions for influenza D virus in cattle
National Institute of Food and Agriculture – $800,000
In partnership with North Dakota State University, the Kuchipudi team will work to develop new diagnostic tests for influenza D virus (IDV), a lesser-known infection endemic in cattle worldwide previously thought to cause only mild illness. Newer IDV strains are growing in severity and are potentially transmissible to humans. Current antibody detection tests cannot distinguish exposure to different lineages of IDV in cattle and no vaccine is available.
In addition to new diagnostic tests, the team will develop a nasal spray vaccine to protect cattle from IDV and prevent the disease from spreading.
Risk assessment of emerging avian influenza H5, H7 and H9 viruses in cattle: receptor basis of susceptibility and tissue tropism
National Institute of Food and Agriculture – $649,992
This study will seek to determine how bird flu viruses like H5N1 adapt to infect cattle and ways to mitigate risk of transmission. Cases have continued to rise since the first reported occurrence of H5N1 in dairy cattle in early 2024. The Kuchipudi team will examine mechanisms used by bird flu strains H5, H7 and H9 to infect cells in various tissues including the lungs, digestive system and mammary glands. Understanding how viral mutations affect the virus’s ability to infect cattle could reveal the risk of spreading beyond the mammary gland and provide risk-assessment tools to help protect animal health and strengthen food security. “We propose to develop a model based on the sialic acid [sugars on cell surfaces] receptors in cattle and other ruminants like sheep and goats to create a risk assessment of emerging zoonotic flu viruses.”
Innovative, field-deployable and highly specific design platforms for HPAI detection in poultry, wild birds and environmental reservoirs
U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Inspection Service – $1,991,417
This project aims to develop and validate innovative diagnostic platforms for HPAI detection in poultry, wild birds and environmental samples.
“We will be looking to create portable, field-deployable but highly sensitive tools to detect the virus,” says Kuchipudi. “Field-deployable, sensitive tools to detect emerging zoonotic viruses such as avian influenza, are essential for detecting threats early at the animal–human–environment interface, a core principle of the One Health approach.”
The team will be developing multiple diagnostic platforms, including an electrochemical sensor in collaboration with Penn State University.
-- Michele Dula Baum