Genomic Epidemiology and Surveillance of Avian Influenza
A special issue of Pathogens (ISSN 2076-0817). This special issue belongs to the section "Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2026 | Viewed by 226
Special Issue Editors
Interests: bioinformatics; data integration and research design; microbial genomics; phylogenomics; population genomics
Interests: influenza A virus; emerging viruses; virus–host cell interactions; virus entry; antivirals
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Avian influenza viruses (AIVs) pose significant global threats, leading to severe losses in poultry, affecting wildlife, and creating pandemic risks for humans. The rapid evolution of influenza A viruses, driven by mutation, reassortment, and adaptation to hosts, complicates efforts in outbreak investigation, risk assessment, and vaccine development. Consequently, understanding the epidemiology and spread of avian influenza increasingly relies on genomic sequencing and bioinformatics-based analytical approaches.
Genomic surveillance has become an essential part of studying avian influenza epidemiology. It allows continuous monitoring of pathogen genomes to identify genetic changes, track transmission patterns, and understand viral evolution. Beyond analyzing nucleotide sequences, examining amino acid changes in key viral proteins, such as hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, offers important insights into factors like pathogenicity, host range, antigenic variation, and molecular markers associated with virulence and adaptation. By integrating genomic epidemiology with surveillance, this approach significantly enhances our understanding compared to traditional field-based epidemiological methods.
This Special Issue focuses on the genomic epidemiology and surveillance of avian influenza. It highlights studies that perform whole-genome sequencing, phylogenetics, evolutionary analysis, and bioinformatics approaches to improve surveillance, risk assessment, and disease monitoring. We welcome original research articles, reviews, and methodological contributions on topics such as genomic epidemiology, viral evolution, reassortment, mutation and amino acid profiling, genotype–phenotype associations, and genomic surveillance frameworks relevant to avian influenza viruses.
Dr. Manoj K. Sekhwal
Dr. Pawel Zmora
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- avian influenza
- genomic epidemiology
- genomic surveillance
- bioinformatics
- one health
- high-throughput sequencing
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