The Avian Zoonoses Research Center

Emerging incidences of infectious diseases that can be transmitted from animals or animal products to humans, i.e. zoonoses, such as bovine spongiform encepha-lopathy (BSE), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) are currently issues of great concern from public health perspectives. The Avian Zoonoses Research Center was founded in April 2005 to establish countermeasures for infectious diseases that can be transmitted from birds to humans. We have mainly investigated the epizootiological aspects of HPAI to control and prevent the reoccurrence of this disease in Japan. We have also studied other zoonoses caused by bacteria, including salmonella and Enterococcus.