Influenza Surveillance Among Swine - OSU Webinar Presentation

All,
Related to today's discussion, please see attached for presentation slides from Dr. Bowman's presentation earlier this summer.  The presentation was intended to provide  summary data to support the current recommendations for length of swine exhibition in agriculture fairs to reduce transmission of influenza A among swine.  The presentation contains a lot of data and good background information about the surveillance efforts carried out by his team at OSU in swine at agricultural fairs in OH, MI and IN.

The webinar recording can be found at: http://www.cste.org/?page=WebinarLibrary

Overview:

In 2012, there were over 300 cases of variant H3N2 influenza A (H3N2v) in the U.S.; most were linked to swine exposure at agricultural fairs, highlighting the importance of mitigating influenza A virus in these settings. One suggested approach to reduce the risk of swine-to-human influenza A virus transmission at agricultural fairs has been to shorten the swine exhibition period, which in theory, would minimize the amount of time the virus has to transmit among and between swine and people if infected swine are present.  These recommendations are outlined in the Measures to Minimize Influenza Transmission at Swine Exhibitions, 2015. 

 

In 2014 and 2015, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), The Ohio State University conducted a study to investigate the transmission dynamics of influenza A virus in pigs at agricultural fairs.  Pigs were sampled daily during 16 agricultural fairs across Ohio and Indiana to determine the proportion of positive pigs over the course of the exhibition.  The data generated in this study support limiting swine exhibitions to 72 hours or less as a way to mitigate the risk of zoonotic influenza A virus transmission at fairs. While shortening the swine exhibitions to 72 hours or less will not eliminate all risk of zoonotic transmission, it is expected that this will result in fewer infected swine thereby decreasing the likelihood of swine-to-human transmission in these settings.

 

1.       Discuss zoonotic transmission of influenza A virus in the context of agricultural fairs.

2.       Describe potential ways to control influenza A virus transmission during agricultural fairs and livestock exhibitions. 

3.       Understand the scientific evidence behind the recommendation of limiting swine exhibitions to 72 hours or less.

 

Andrew S. Bowman, MS, DVM, PhD, DACVPM

Assistant Professor

College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine

The Ohio State University 

OSU Flu Webinar Slides 6.3.16.pdf 6.03 MB • Download