Influenza Research: Need and Rationale
Influenza is a ubiquitous and highly contagious viral respiratory illness that occurs seasonally, usually in the late fall, winter or early spring. Millions of people worldwide get influenza every year, and in the United States, 300,000 are hospitalized and 30,000 to 40,000 die. As a consequence, intensive public-health efforts are made every fall to immunize all elderly and other susceptible people against the currently circulating influenza viruses.
Of special concern are the influenza A viruses, which can infect animals as well as humans, and which have the capacity to evolve and alter their molecular structure to evade our immune defenses. On occasion, when an animal influenza A virus evolves to infect humans and becomes transmissible from one human to another, there is a very high likelihood of a global pandemic — rapid worldwide spread of the new virus with a very high incidence of human disease and deaths. During the past 20 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have maintained continuous and intensive surveillance for new strains of influenza A that might pose a threat of pandemic disease. They also have mandated enhanced public-health preparedness and efforts to develop a new vaccine. The “bird flu” or H5N1 avian influenza virus, which has spread rapidly throughout Southeast Asia since 2003, is an example of a threatening new influenza A virus.
Although scientists already know a great deal about influenza, there remain many unanswered questions about the disease and the virus that causes it. Scientists require a better understanding of the influenza A virus, especially knowledge of exactly how it evolves at the most basic molecular level, as well as the properties of the virus that make it benign or highly virulent and life threatening. That knowledge is essential if society is to be fully prepared to prevent, treat and contain new strains of influenza virus, such as the H5N1 bird flu strain, when they appear.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are among the world’s leaders in studying the influenza virus. They have made important discoveries that have greatly enhanced our understanding of the virus and how to better combat it when it infects humans and other animals. One of the most distinguished influenza researchers in the world is UW-Madison’s Professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka, who has been conducting research on the influenza A virus and other viruses at the School of Veterinary Medicine since 1997.
The long-term goals of UW-Madison’s influenza research include achieving a far better understanding of the genetic makeup and reproductive mechanisms of the influenza virus. Such knowledge will underpin new methods to develop and produce better vaccines far more rapidly than the six months currently required, to develop new antiviral drugs to treat those who become infected and to contain the spread of the virus.
In a very large basic-research program supported by federal and other grants, Professor Kawaoka has conducted groundbreaking research on avian and other influenza A viruses. He was among the first to study the avian influenza strain that infected humans during an outbreak in Hong Kong in 1997. In 1999, Kawaoka used a technique called reverse genetics to pave the way for improved flu vaccine manufacturing techniques. In 2005, Kawaoka discovered the genetic basis for why the 1918 or “Spanish flu” virus was so lethal. Recent findings from Kawaoka’s lab have show that the H5N1 avian influenza A virus is capable of evolving resistance to oseltamivir (Tamiflu), the leading antiviral drug currently used to prevent and treat influenza.
Most recently, he and his colleagues found that influenza A viruses package their genetic contents in a unique structural way as they prepare to bud and infect new cells. This discovery may reveal a common genetic element that could be a target for new antiviral drugs and further improve methods for quickly and efficiently producing vaccines in mass quantities.
This research has been carried out safely in laboratories on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus for the past eight years. To make it possible to continue and expand this important work, the university plans to renovate 20,000 square feet in an existing building in University Research Park that will include a state-of-the-art laboratory where work can be safely conducted. Other similar laboratories are currently operating within University Research Park. This research facility will be engineered and constructed to meet standards required and approved by the federal government for facilities that are specifically designed to contain influenza virus research. The renovated facility will also house more traditional labs and offices.
Building an expanded laboratory in University Research Park is necessary because adequate and appropriate space for this research is not available at the UW-Madison campus. Moreover, the renovated facility, which will be constructed with private gifts, can be built much more rapidly than on-campus facilities can currently be constructed under the state process. An accelerated construction timetable will permit the university’s influenza research program to continue its success against influenza at a critical time and its work to reduce the potential of global pandemic disease.