The later virus is of particular concern in light of the role that pigs can play in the adaptation of avian influenza viruses to replication in mammals, with the potential for subsequent transmission into the human population. Finally, we collaborate regularly wth the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene to study zoonotic swine influenza virus infection in humans. The second area of interest in my laboratory is the development of DNA-based vaccines and their use as tools to assess protective immune mechanisms. A major impediment to the control of influenza in all species is the lack of efficacious vaccines. By assessing the phenotype of the immune responses elicited by these DNA vaccines, as compared to inactivated vaccines or virus infection, we have addressed the role of mucosal and systemic immune responses in protection from influenza virus infection.
Antibody responses to DNA vaccinations of horses using the influenza virus hemagglutin gene.
Karasin, A.I., M.M. Schutten, L.A. Cooper, C.B. Smith, K. Subbarao, G.A. Anderson, S. Carman and C.W.Olsen. Karasin, A.I., I.H. Brown, S. Carman and C.W. Olsen. Isolation and characterization of H4N6 avian influenza viruses from pigs with pneumonia in Canada.