INFLUENZA D VIRUS.

Researchers have found antibodies to the newly discovered influenza D virus in pigs, cattle, horses, goats and sheep, but not poultry. A researcher has proven that the guinea pig can be used as an animal model and is developing a way to study the virus in living cells—trachea and lung epithelial cells from swine and cattle. To identify exposure to the virus, South Dakota State University doctoral student Chithra Sreenivasan tests blood samples for influenza D antibodies. Working with the Minnesota Poultry Testing Lab, she found no evidence of the new influenza strain in poultry; however, she did find antibodies to the virus in sheep and goats from the Midwest through blood samples archived at Washington State University. The virus has not been shown to be pathogenic in humans, the goal is to determine whether the virus can cause problems in humans.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. Using the bovine Influenza D strain, Sreenivasan proved that the guinea pig could be used as an animal model to study the virus. Though guinea pigs showed no symptoms, she successfully isolated antigens in tracheal and lung tissues. In addition, her research showed the virus is spread only through direct contact. Those results were published in the Journal of Virology, with Sreenivasan as the first author of the article. Influenza D has about 50 percent similarity to human influenza C. Human C affects mostly children, the most common symptom is a runny nose. It's not a serious disease as we all have some antibodies because we were infected as children. source; science daily.