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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Virus and Prion Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #325221
Title: The avian-origin H3N2 canine influenza virus has limited replication in swine

Author
item ABENTE, EUGENIO - Orise Fellow
item Anderson, Tavis
item RAJAO, DANIELA - Non ARS Employee
item SWENSON, SABRINA - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
item GAUGER, PHILLIP - Iowa State University
item Baker, Amy

Submitted to: Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/20/2016
Publication Date: 4/25/2016
Citation: Abente, E.J., Anderson, T.K., Rajao, D.S., Swenson, S., Gauger, P.C., Vincent, A.L. 2016. The avian-origin H3N2 canine influenza virus that recently emerged in the United States has limited replication in swine. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses. 10(5):429-432.

Interpretive Summary: Influenza A virus (IAV) is an important pathogen in humans, pigs and birds among other species, and cross-species transmission plays an important role in the complex ecology of influenza. IAV strains that are adapted to one species can sporadically infect a different species that has no prior immunity to that particular IAV strain, which may lead to an outbreak with the new IAV strain. In March of 2015 a novel avian-origin H3N2 caused an outbreak in dogs in Chicago, Illinois, and it was not known if US isolates of the CIV virus had the potential to infect species other than dogs. Here, we evaluated the ability of this recently emerged H3N2 canine influenza A virus to replicate and transmit in commercial swine. We observed moderate replication in the lungs, minimal replication in the nasal cavity and no evidence of pig-to-pig transmission. These findings suggest that there is a low probability that the avian-origin H3N2 could be sustained in the pig population without substantial evolutionary changes to the genetics of the virus.

Technical Abstract: A genetically and antigenically distinct H3N2 canine influenza of avian-origin was detected in March of 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. A subsequent outbreak was reported with over 1,000 dogs in the Midwest affected. The potential for canine-to-swine transmission was unknown. Experimental infection in pigs showed this virus does not replicate efficiently in swine.