Abstract
Abstract
Background
Influenza A Viruses (IAV) are endemic pathogens of significant concern in humans and multiple keystone livestock species. Widespread morbidity in swine herds negatively impacts animal welfare standards and economic performance whilst human IAV pandemics have emerged from pigs on multiple occasions. To combat the rising prevalence of swine IAV there must be effective control strategies available.
Main body
The most basic form of IAV control on swine farms is through good animal husbandry practices and high animal welfare standards. To control inter-herd transmission, biosecurity considerations such as quarantining of pigs and implementing robust health and safety systems for workers help to reduce the likelihood of swine IAV becoming endemic. Closely complementing the physical on-farm practices are IAV surveillance programs. Epidemiological data is critical in understanding regional distribution and variation to assist in determining an appropriate response to outbreaks and understanding the nature of historical swine IAV epidemics and zoonoses.
Medical intervention in pigs is restricted to vaccination, a measure fraught with the intrinsic difficulties of mounting an immune response against a highly mutable virus. It is the best available tool for controlling IAV in swine but is far from being a perfect solution due to its unreliable efficacy and association with an enhanced respiratory disease. Because IAV generally has low mortality rates there is a reticence in the uptake of vaccination.
Novel genetic technologies could be a complementary strategy for IAV control in pigs that confers broad-acting resistance. Transgenic pigs with IAV resistance are useful as models, however the complexity of these reaching the consumer market limits them to research models. More promising are gene-editing approaches to prevent viral exploitation of host proteins and modern vaccine technologies that surpass those currently available.
Conclusion
Using the suite of IAV control measures that are available for pigs effectively we can improve the economic productivity of pig farming whilst improving on-farm animal welfare standards and avoid facing the extensive social and financial costs of a pandemic. Fighting ‘Flu in pigs will help mitigate the very real threat of a human pandemic emerging, increase security of the global food system and lead to healthier pigs.
Funder
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh
Genus PIC
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Animal Science and Zoology,Small Animals
Reference195 articles.
1. Janke BH, Influenza A. Virus Infections in Swine. Vet Pathol. 2014;51(2):410–26.
2. Ran Z, Shen H, Lang Y, Kolb EA, Turan N, Zhu L, et al. Domestic pigs are susceptible to infection with influenza B viruses. J Virol. 2015;89(9):4818–26.
3. Hause BM, Ducatez M, Collin EA, Ran Z, Liu R, Sheng Z, et al. Isolation of a Novel Swine Influenza Virus from Oklahoma in 2011 Which Is Distantly Related to Human Influenza C Viruses. Fouchier RAM, editor. PLoS Pathog. 2013;9(2):e1003176.
4. Hause BM, Collin EA, Liu R, Huang B, Sheng Z, Lu W, et al. Characterization of a novel influenza virus in cattle and swine: Proposal for a new genus in the Orthomyxoviridae family. MBio. 2014;5(2):e00031–14.
5. Foni E, Chiapponi C, Faccini S, Baioni L, Barbieri I, Rosignoli C, et al. The circulation of Influenza D in pig breeding farms of Northern Italy. Atti della Soc Ital di Patol ed Allev dei Suini, XLII Meet Annu Montichiari, Ital 10-11 March 2016; 2016. p. 151–5.
Cited by
23 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献