A Horizon 2020 project entiteld: “Data-driven control and prioritisation of non-EU-regulated contagious animal diseases (DECIDE)” with19 partners from 11 countries coordinated by Gerdien van Schaik. The main goal of the DECIDE project is to develop data-driven decision support tools and workflows with which farmers and veterinarians can make informed decisions for the control of endemic contagious diseases in calves, broilers, piglets and salmon. These decisions take into account the presence of the infection, the direct production losses, the impact on welfare and the costs and benefits of any treatment. The DECIDE consortium consists of experts from different disciplines and sectors, namely veterinary epidemiology and diagnostics, social sciences, economics, animal welfare, information technology, artificial intelligence, data sciences, and mechanistic and predictive modelling.

• prof. dr. J.A. (Arjan) Stegeman
• prof. dr. M. (Mirjam) Nielen
• dr. ir. W. (Wilma) Steeneveld
• prof. dr. ir. G. (Gerdien) van Schaik
• Y. (Yara) Slegers
• L.J.W. (Marloes) Boeters MSc

Disease outbreaks are a major threat for the European poultry industry. Avian Influenza A virus (AIV) is a global problem, causing widespread harm to animal and public health, animal welfare and food production. In poultry, pathogenicity of AIV strains is binary classified into Highly Pathogenic (HPAI) and Low Pathogenic (LPAI), using an intravenous pathogenicity index (IVPI) test in 6-week-old chickens and/or the presence of multiple basic amino acids at the cleavage site of the virus hemagglutinin (HA). Many non-notifiable (nn-LPAI; i.e. non H5/H7 subtype) AIV strains usually cause mild or moderate infections, but with highly variable mortality. High virulence nn-LPAIVs are not predicted by IVPI, as shown by recent outbreaks in Belgium, where an H3N1 strain formally classified as LPAI (IVPI = 0.13) nevertheless caused >50% mortality and a 100% drop in egg production.

FluNuance is a multidisciplinary approach to unravel the determinants of increased virulence in LPAI viruses in chicken, mallard, geese and pigeon in order to better predict the severity of emerging AIV strains.