July 14, 2020

Iowa State University to monitor current and new swine flu strains

The university's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory's swine influenza surveillance will allow pork producers to keep pace with existing and new flu strains among their swine herds, Iowa State University reported.

Phillip Gauger, associate professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine spearheads the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory swine influenza testing.

He said the lab continuously tracks influenza A viruses in swine, adding that even new strains discovered in China would be a threat when compared to current strains circulating among swine in the United States.

Gauger said swine flu vaccines are applied on breeding farms to minimize clinical disease in sow farms and provide maternal immunity to piglets.

Practising veterinarians in the country provide samples to Iowa State University's Veterinary Diagnostic Lab for sequencing, allowing veterinarians and pork producers to find out if specific strains of influenza are circulating among their herds.

Gauger said H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2 subtypes are still found among US swine. 30,000 influenza tests are conducted annuals, with 1,000 positive tests.  16 genetic flu strains can be tracked from the three subtypes, and monitoring data is published on the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab's FLUture website.

The public-access FLUture website allows researchers, veterinarians and swine producers to stay head on current trends and make better decisions about their swine herd health.

Gauger said the combined efforts of veterinary diagnostic laboratories, practising veterinarians, pork producers and the US Department of Agriculture means the US has the most extensive influenza monitoring system for domestic swine herds globally.

-      Iowa State University