Canada slowest to report avian flu samples to global database, UBC researchers find

Two University of B.C. researchers person recovered that Canada is the slowest state astatine reporting H5N1 avian flu information to a planetary genome database, which they accidental could person implications arsenic scientists way the mutations of the rapidly spreading virus.

But the bureau starring the country's effect to the outbreak says that illustration postulation successful a state the size of Canada is much time-consuming, and characteristics that supply caller penetration into the microorganism are usually reported wrong days.

In an nonfiction in Nature Biotechnology on Tuesday, Sarah Otto, a professor, and Sean Edgerton, a PhD student, with UBC's zoology schoolhouse showed the planetary mean for countries reporting avian flu samples to the Global Initiative connected Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) was astir 228 days for countries reporting astatine slightest 50 familial sequences.

While immoderate countries similar the Czech Republic and the Netherlands reported information wrong a month, Canada was the slowest astatine 618 days connected average, the researchers found.

As the H5N1 avian flu microorganism wreaks havoc connected poultry flocks — peculiarly successful B.C., wherever millions of birds person been culled — the scientists accidental that reporting microorganism samples promptly could assistance researchers observe microorganism mutations faster.

The telephone for faster information reporting comes arsenic the H5N1 avian flu microorganism has led to a terrible corruption for a B.C. teenager, and concerns person spiked after it caused a decease successful the U.S.

"The sooner that data, familial data, is made available, the better capable antithetic researchers are ... to get a grip connected that, and bring their expertise into the field and reply questions," Edgerton said. "Whether it's focused connected the epidemiology of H5N1 or the improvement oregon immunology, for instance."

The PhD pupil said that carnal wellness and quality wellness are intimately linked, and it would beryllium perfect for immoderate mutations successful animals to beryllium reflected promptly arsenic opposed to samples from months prior.

"We tin amended plan vaccines, not conscionable for humans, but besides for animals," helium said. "They're successful often successful beauteous choky quarters, and truthful it's precise casual for diseases to tally done an full workplace precise quickly."

LISTEN | Could avian flu merge with a quality strain? 

Otto said that portion the avian flu microorganism hasn't shown overmuch grounds of human-to-human transmission, it was evolving rapidly to dispersed to different taxon similar cows, and scientists are looking astatine parts of the microorganism that could connect to quality cells.

The prof said that Canada initially lagged down successful reporting COVID-19 samples to the GISAID database, having an mean reporting clip of 88 days aboriginal successful the pandemic. But now, the researcher says the reporting clip is down to 16 days.

"We cognize besides with COVID, we got a batch amended erstwhile we looked astatine our delays and tried to fig retired wherever were the large stumbling blocks," she said.

CFIA says delays down to aggregate factors

A spokesperson for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency — which is starring Canada's effect to the avian flu outbreak — said that the clip taken to upload samples to GISAID is based connected a fig of factors.

According to the agency, illustration postulation is challenging and time-consuming for a state the size of Canada, wherever samples are collected by galore agencies, often successful distant areas.

The spokesperson said that samples are often collected implicit a agelong duration of time, and illustration postulation could proceed until a capable fig tin beryllium sent for testing.

WATCH | Avian flu threatens B.C. poultry farms: 

"However, immoderate clip the genome sequences show characteristics that supply caller insights into the behaviour of the virus, other effort is taken by the [National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease] to marque those sequences publically disposable arsenic rapidly arsenic possible," the spokesperson wrote. 

"For example, a viral variant that confers cause absorption was precocious recovered connected a poultry workplace successful British Columbia. The implicit viral genome was made publically disposable 13 days aft the oropharyngeal swab was collected from the workplace suspected to beryllium infected with HPAI."

The spokesperson added that overmuch of the reporting delays were owed to the challenges successful collecting samples from wildlife, and reporting times for samples from home poultry were comparatively abbreviated astatine 2 to 3 weeks.