International expert to boost USC’s horse flu research
An international expert in the transmission of influenza from animals to humans will speak at the University of the Sunshine Coast from 6.30pm on Wednesday 27 February.
The one-hour presentation by Professor Gregory Gray of the University of Iowa will be the first in a planned series of community information sessions run by the University’s School of Health and Sport Sciences.
Professor Gray will discuss the potential for an influenza pandemic, as well as the possibility of bird, swine and horse flu transmission to humans, in a presentation entitled “Animal to Human Disease Transmission: Science versus Speculation”.
Professor Gray is the Director of the Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Iowa. He has worked for the US Department of Defence and consulted for the World Health Organisation and Centres for Disease Control.
He has conducted extensive research of bird flu outbreaks in Asia and is currently working with USC scientists in assessing the level of human exposure to equine influenza in the local community and whether exposure to the virus can affect people’s health.
USC immunologist Dr Fiona Burnell said Professor Gray’s visit would invigorate USC’s research which began at the height of the horse flu epidemic in south-east Queensland late last year.
This research requires 400 volunteers with variable levels of exposure to horses and a further 200 people who have no contact with horses.
Dr Burnell said the study would analyse risk factors, including hygiene practices, of humans in spreading the virus which affected horses at more than 1000 properties across Queensland last year.
“One of Professor Gray’s key goals is to safeguard those who work with animals because they’re going to be in the first line if a disease does cross to humans,” she said.
“The main epidemic of horse flu may have passed, but we can learn from that experience and possibly prevent future epidemics. We need more participants for this study to help us learn about what has happened and prepare for the next time.”
USC’s Head of School of Health and Sport Sciences Professor John Lowe said further community information sessions were planned on topics of regional significance.
To book for the community information session, or to volunteer to be a participant in the USC study, contact Dr Fiona Burnell on (07) 5430 2826 or <fburnell@usc.edu.au>.
— Terry Walsh