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Mission Statement
To protect public health by minimizing animal to human, environmental, and food borne infectious disease threats through innovative interdisciplinary research.
This will be achieved through a program of research excellence that is broad in scope encompassing the full range of relevant sciences from the laboratory bench to the community. We embrace the interdisciplinary nature of the program recognizing that breakthroughs will likely emerge at the interface of scientific disciplines. Accordingly, this program draws strength from both the diversity of academic programs that underlie it, as well as a unifying focus and direction related to public health preparedness and infectious diseases.
H1N1/2009 Outbreak
Facts, preparedness, faculty experts
Spring, 2009
More than 125 public health and infectious disease experts drive the Public Health Preparedness for Infectious Diseases program at The Ohio State University. Key leaders from this team have collaborated to offer this overview of swine flu. The term ‘swine influenza’ most accurately describes subtype H1N1 Type A influenza viruses. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the current outbreak is caused by an H1N1 strain with a unique combination of gene segments not previously reported among people. In this document, we will use the term ‘swine flu’ to specifically refer to the current strain of H1N1 causing the human outbreak reported in April, 2009.
Background: Outbreaks of swine flu occur regularly in pigs, but this strain includes genetic content from birds, pigs and humans. When flu viruses spread from person-to-person, they can continue to mutate. Person-to-person transmission of swine flu by sneezing and coughing has been confirmed, but the ease of the transmission is still under investigation. Symptoms usually include fever, coughing, sneezing, runny nose, and sore throat. There have been some early reports of diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, as well. Comparisons have been made to the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918.
Summary of Facts and Issues:
· This version of H1N1/2009 has been detected in several countries, including the U.S. The most severe cases and highest numbers have been occurring in Mexico.
· H1N1/2009 has caused 141 confirmed infections in the US with one death. In Mexica, the situation appears more severe. These numbers likely under-represent the actual cases since people with mild infections may not have sought medical care, typical in most flu outbreaks.
· H1N1/2009 has shown resistance to two antiviral medications, but CDC is recommending Tamiflu or Relenza, which are successful against the virus.
· H1N1/2009 cannot be contracted by eating pork.
· The key elements to preparedness against H1N1/2009 are continued vigilant surveillance, a strong early detection/warning system, and standard hygiene, including regular washing of hands, avoiding contact with infected persons and staying home if you’re infected, except to go to your primary care doctor More prevention tips can be found at: www.cdc.gov/swineflu/
Dr. Mo Saif, head of Ohio State University Food Animal Health Research Program, studies how influenza viruses manage to jump from one animal species to another, and from animal to humans. Hadi Yassine, a graduate student, is part of the Saif Team looking for the molecular characteristics driving interspecies transmission.
Questions and Experts:
What strains of the flu have we found around the country to date?
Preliminary analysis from Daniel Janies, PhD indicates that the Texas and California cases are related and trace back to swine sequences in Guangzi, China, and the United States. Washington cases are distant from that group and related to other human cases around the world. Dr. Janies, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at The Ohio State University, builds evolutionary trees to track changes in the virus, models the movement of the flu and its properties such as drug resistance, and predicts where and how it will move next.
Dr. Janies has extensive knowledge of computational genomics. His background includes serving as a principal investigator at the American Museum of Natural History where he lead a team that built one of the world’s largest computing clusters. He currently tracks the spread of infectious diseases based upon genetic and geographic data derived from animal and human viruses and their hosts. His results have been reported in local and international media and he was recently called to testify to the United States Senate on “Forestalling the Coming Pandemic: Infectious Disease Surveillance Overseas.” To see interactive visualizations of his work, go to http://supramap.osu.edu/supramap/index.php?page=publications
For media requesting interviews, contact medical center media relations office (614)293-3737
Is swine flu similar to avian flu? How do these viruses go from animals to humans? Should pigs be protected? How does this compare historically to previous swine flu pandemics?
Mo Saif, DVM, MS, PhD, head of the Food Animal Health Research Program at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and assistant dean, College of Veterinary Medicine, has extensive knowledge on the transmission of influenza viruses between different species including poultry and swine. He can visually demonstrate a number of issues, including accessing an aerosol chamber where strains of the virus are generated for research purposes. Dr. Saif’s lab is the only one at Ohio State that is working with swine influenza viruses.
Phone: (330)263-3743
Cell: (330) 465-6421
Cell: (330) 465-6421
Email: saif.1@osu.edu
Richard Slemons, DVM, MS, PhD, has been studying influenza outbreaks in animals and humans in the U.S. and overseas for more than 30 years. Dr. Slemons, professor in the Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine He is connected to an extensive and fascinating surveillance network throughout the country. He does have photography of field and lab work.
Phone: 614-292-3752/C 614-327-6024
E-mail: weber.254@osu.edu
Dee Jepsen, PhD, is OSU Extension's state safety leader with the Agricultural Safety and Health Program. She serves as assistant professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering. One of her areas of interest is disaster preparedness and recovery. With regards to swine flu, she can speak to media on prevention, swine herd health management, and client relationships. Her key message is: Swine flu cannot be contracted by eating pork.
Phone: (614) 292-6008
Email: jepsen.4@osu.edu
Steve Moeller, PhD, associate professor, is an OSU Extension swine specialist with the Department of Animal Sciences in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Moeller can speak on biosecurity with swine herds in Ohio, as well as discuss herd management and aspects of swine production.
Phone: (614) 688-3686
Email: moeller.29@osu.edu
How is infection spread and how can you mitigate the spread? How successful are strategies such as face masks and hand washing?
Tim Buckley, PhD, CIH, associate professor and chair, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, College of Public Health at The Ohio State University can detail the public health issues raised by swine flu in the United States.
Dr. Buckley is an environmental health scientist with expertise in exposure and risk assessment. His research interests include assessing human exposure to environmental contaminants so that public health effects and preventive strategies can be more effectively identified. He has a diverse research portfolio that spans both environmental and occupational health across the health continuum from source, to exposure, to body burden, and ultimately health effects. Specific recent studies have included lab and field studies characterizing airborne bacteria and viruses as a critical first step in investigating the inhalation hazard and strategies for protecting animal-to-human and human-to-human transmission for workers and communities. He is a certified industrial hygienist and a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board.
Phone: (614) 293-7161
Email: tbuckley@cph.osu.edu
What impact could swine flu have upon public health in the U.S.?
- How will we know if this outbreak grows into an epidemic or pandemic?
- Is there a “perfect storm” scenario that causes an outbreak to develop into an epidemic or pandemic?
- Can we use the same strategies intended to prepare for an avian flu pandemic?
Kurt Stevenson, MD, MPH, is an associate professor of internal medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and the associate medical director of clinical epidemiology for the OSU Health System. He is also associate professor in the Division of Epidemiology at Ohio State’s College of Public Health. Dr. Stevenson can explain the basic human health threats raised by the virus and the medical community’s response to it.
Dr Stevenson’s clinical interests focus on healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance in the healthcare setting. His major research interest is directed at understanding the development of healthcare-associated infections and examining infection control interventions to limit their occurrence and impact. One area of emphasis currently is examining strategies to optimize the prescribing of antimicrobial agents to prevent the development and spread of resistance. This research includes diverse healthcare settings beyond Ohio State including those with limited resources such as rural hospitals and long-term care facilities.
Phone: (614) 293-0348
Email: Kurt.Stevenson@osumc.edu
For media requesting interviews, contact medical center media relations office (614)293-3737
Main number for the Clinical Epidemiology office: (614) 293-8556
PHPID Research Goals:
- Translate scientific discoveries into clinical applications e.g. new diagnostics, therapies, and vaccines for infectious diseases;
- Detect the presence of emerging infectious diseases within communities, the underlying mode of transmission, and strategies for prevention, control and treatment;
- Prevent human infection from antibiotic resistant zoonotic (animal to human) micro-organisms through an understanding of livestock immune systems -- particularly the gastrointestinal
tract -- with an aim to reduce use of antibiotics in animals
- Address food safety issues during food production, processing, transport, storage, retail, or consumer use, with an aim to decrease infections and associated fatalities caused by
food-borne illness; and
- Train professionals in veterinary public health and infectious diseases public health preparedness.
tract -- with an aim to reduce use of antibiotics in animals
food-borne illness; and
