A growing body of research is drawing global scientific attention to influenza D virus (IDV), a relatively little-known member of the influenza family with zoonotic potential. A study published by the National Library of Medicine, US, highlights early insights into its interactions with humans, revealing both low general prevalence and significant risk among high-risk groups. In its paper titled ‘Influenza D’, the health body revealed, “Serological evidence of past exposure to IDV infection in humans has been pooled from three independent studies.

The first study showed that the IDV seroprevalence rate among people aged 60 years and older living in Canada and the eastern US (Connecticut) was approximately 1. 3% (4/312) [4]. The observation of low prevalence of IDV in the general population is consistent with a The etiological investigation in Scotland found no evidence of IDV infection in stored respiratory specimens of patients attending hospital [31].

The second study focused on an occupational exposure group (farmers exposed to cattle) living in Florida and documented 97% seroprevalence (34/35), mirroring the seroprevalence in the cattle population [32] also in the non-cattle population. A seroprevalence of 18% (2/11) was detected.

The third study represents a comprehensive longitudinal study of more than 1,000 human serum samples collected in Italy from 2005 to 2017 to investigate the prevalence of antibodies against influenza D viruses. [33] The results of this study showed that the prevalence of IDV antibodies in the human population in Italy from 2005 to 2017 was the highest in some years. Up to 41.

0% were tested positive.