Thomas M. Chambers, PhD
Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center
Department of Veterinary Science
University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky 40546-0099
Influenza is the leading cause of acute infectious respiratory disease in horses
worldwide, and outbreaks occur in Kentucky annually. My laboratory is an International
Reference Laboratory for equine influenza, the only one in the western hemisphere,
under the auspices of the Office International des Epizooties (OIE). Thus my laboratory
is called upon as one of very few centers of expertise in international surveillance
for this disease. I am a member of the international Expert Surveillance Panel which
meets annually to review the status of equine influenza worldwide and make recommendations
to vaccine manufacturers for updating their equine influenza vaccines.
I have established three broad areas of research on equine influenza virus by my
laboratory:
- Surveillance and molecular characterization of virus strains currently in circulation,
and analyses of vaccine efficacy.
- Host-virus interaction, host immunity, and cellular-molecular pathogenesis.
- Research towards development of more efficacious equine influenza virus vaccines.
The efforts of my laboratory and my students have resulted in highly significant
contributions to our field, including the development and USDA licensure of FluAvert™
(Heska Corporation, now sold by Intervet Inc.) the first intranasal, modified-live
virus vaccine for equine influenza, which I have proudly described as the first
equine flu vaccine in the USA that really works; and the impact of our research
on maternal antibody interference upon foal vaccination schedules recommended by
the American Association of Equine Practitioners. Our research on techniques for
rapid diagnosis has been of considerable significance to the horse industry, e.g.
in affecting import/quarantine regulations.