New Virus Officially Named Influenza D

September 7, 2016 — 

The executive committee of the International Committee of Taxonomy of Viruses officially approved naming a new virus "influenza D" — as the South Dakota State University researchers who discovered it proposed, according to professor Feng Li. [Source: Feedstuffs, September 1, 2016, by Tim Lundeen]

The committee officially announced a new genus, Orthomyxovirdae, with a single species, influenza D virus, because of its distinctness from other influenza types — A, B and C.

Although South Dakota State alumnus Ben Hause — now at Kansas State University — isolated the virus from a diseased pig in 2011, he later found that cattle were the primary reservoir for influenza D. Hause identified and characterized the new virus as part of his doctoral research under Li’s tutelage.

This is the first influenza virus identified in cattle, Li explained.

Li and Radhey Kaushik, professor and assistant head of the biology and microbiology department at South Dakota State, secured a National Institutes of Health grant for nearly $400,000 to study the biology, genetics and evolution of the new virus.

Ultimately, the goal is to determine whether influenza D, which has 50% similarity to human influenza C, can cause problems in people, according to Kaushik. However, he noted that “the virus has not been shown to be pathogenic in humans. No one should be afraid of this.”

The research group showed that influenza D is spread only through direct contact and proved that a guinea pig can be used as an animal model to study the virus. Influenza D antibodies have been identified in blood samples from sheep and goats, but the virus does not affect poultry.

Studies are underway to compare the virulence among the bovine and swine influenza D strains and human influenza C using the guinea pig model.

“If the virus can undergo reassortment in combination with a closely related human influenza virus, it may be able to form a new strain that could pose more of a threat to humans,” Kaushik explained.