The Potential of a Plant-Based Diet to Prevent New Influenza Viruses

Influenza is a highly contagious disease that is responsible for significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Influenza A viruses (IAVs) have the ability to cross interspecies barriers from avian carriers and then rapidly circulate among and infect crowded livestock creating a breeding ground for the emergence of zoonotic viruses with epidemic and pandemic potential. They are susceptible to antigenic shift and drift and hence are the cause of recurring major epidemics and pandemics. Intensive animal farming creates conditions for the emergence and amplification of epidemics because of the physical and genetic proximity of the billions of animals, often in frail health, raised indoors every year. In particular, because swine and poultry are susceptible to infection with both avian and human influenza viruses, novel influenza viruses can be generated by reassortment of influenza viral segments. These are then transmitted via farm workers into the human population. Increased globalization is a significant factor in the worldwide spread of human influenza viruses that spillover from poultry and swine. The efficacy of influenza vaccination as a public health measure is limited by both the efficacy of the vaccine, which needs to be reformulated biannually, and the degree of public access to the vaccine. The most effective public health prophylaxis would therefore be to encourage less consumption of animal products, thus reducing the need for intensive animal agriculture. This will cut the link in the chain of emergence of influenza viruses into the human population, while at the same time, improving public health more directly.