STAR-IDAZ IRC review highlights the importance of animal population surveillance to prevent future pandemics.
Vets are being urged to learn from COVID-19 and effectively research other viruses that pose a similar risk to animal and human health, such as influenza.
The call from the EU's STAR-IDAZ International Research Consortium (IRC) on Animal Health follows a comprehensive review of the research on animal influenza viruses published in the last five years.
The findings, published in the 2021 Animal Influenza Research Review, show good progress in understanding influenza but warn that gaps in knowledge and preparedness for a pandemic remain.
The review highlights the importance of surveillance of animal populations, such as wild birds, and developing appropriate diagnostic techniques and molecular studies to track the evolution of virus variants.
It also looks at the future of animal influenza research, including how to use the progress made in understanding SARS-CoV-2-19 - the virus responsible for the current COVID-19 outbreak - to advance the understanding of influenza and its control.
“The past year has been dominated by COVID-19, but influenza hasn’t gone away, with several potentially dangerous viruses circulating in wildfowl and livestock,” commented Dr Alex Morrow, coordinator of STAR-IDAZ IRC.
“Influenza is a global problem and needs a coordinated global approach to understand and control it. This report is a major step in helping us establish the current state of knowledge on animal influenza and will be used to help direct future research in a coordinated way”.
Professor Hong Yin of the Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Chair of the STAR-IDAZ IRC added:“Influenza is a global problem - a serious threat to human health and food security, that needs a coordinated approach in researching the tools that we need to prevent and control this disease.
"STAR-IDAZ IRC plays an important role in this coordinated approach, and this report will be valuable in helping us deal with influenza threat.”
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
