Keynote Symposium introduction and welcome.

I would like to welcome you all to the very first Keynote Symposium, “Avian Influenza: Vectors, Vaccines, Public Health, and Product Marketability,” here at the 2008 Poultry Science Association (PSA) Centennial Meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. The Keynote Symposium was preceded by the traditional Ancillary Scientists Symposium. Several years ago, it was decided to include the Ancillary Scientists Symposium into the General Meeting, so that separate registration and fees would not apply. With such big changes, it was thought that a new name was in order – thus you are at the Keynote Symposium this year rather than the Ancillary Scientists Symposium. The title of this year’s symposium is “Avian Influenza: Vectors, Vaccines, Public Health, and Product Marketability,” and its purpose is to provide the members and guests of the PSA with an overview of current research on avian influenza (AI) and with the knowledge and resources that will be needed in the event of an outbreak. Avian influenza is a respiratory disease of birds that has always been a health problem for the poultry industry. Avian influenza occurs in many wild and domestic avian species in both low pathogenicity and occasionally high pathogenicity forms. Avian influenza virus (AIV) infection can cause severe economic losses and trade restrictions. In 1996, a highly pathogenic H5N1 strain was detected in birds in China and since then has been associated with extensive losses in poultry as well as mortality in humans who have close contact with affected poultry (Gambotto et al., 2008). This lineage has become endemic in many Southeast Asian and Equatorial African countries and has been sporadically detected in Europe. Although the Asian H5N1 highly pathogenic AIV (HPAIV) lineage has not reached North America, other avian pathogenic strains continue to cause disease in poultry (Alexander, 2007; Senne, 2007). The topics selected for the symposium are organized into sessions defined by the title: vectors, vaccines, public health, and marketability. Although the spread of the H5N1 lineage to the United States would devastate the poultry industry, the highly pathogenic strains that have circulated in the United States and Canada in the recent past resulted in great economic loss not only to the disease but to containment measures and trade restrictions. Our speakers will provide the most recent information concerning surveillance and vaccination methods for HPAIV strains, focusing on the molecular epidemiology and ecology of AIV in wild birds, and the development of rapid molecular diagnostic tests and novel vaccination strategies. Many leading researchers believe that within time the Asian H5N1 HPAIV lineage, or related strains, may acquire the ability to transmit from human to human, leading to an influenza pandemic that could cause worldwide devastation (Ong et al., 2008). This prediction has led to unprecedented media attention on AI, as not only a poultry disease but as a potential human disease. This media attention must be addressed by the poultry industry and the researchers, veterinarians, and educators that support the industry in an educated and responsible manner (Capua and Alexander, 2006, 2008). Avian influenza has become a problem of global impact. In recognition of this fact, our program has a European keynote speaker with direct experience of the impact that the Asian H5N1 HPAIV strain has had on global poultry production and marketing. We have also invited a speaker from Canada to describe measures that have been developed for controlling the impact of highly pathogenic poultry strains in that country. Avian influenza researchers associated with the USDA Avian Influenza Coordinated Agricultural Project will be speaking as well as members of the PSA community who are active in AI research. Received October 27, 2008. Accepted November 29, 2008. 1 Presented as part of the Poultry Science Association Keynote Symposium, “Avian Influenza: Vectors, Vaccines, Public Health, and Product Marketability,” July 20, 2008, at the Poultry Science Association meeting, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. 2 Corresponding author: [email protected] © 2009 Poultry Science Association Inc.