Which variants of influenza viruses commonly circulate in Ontario swine?

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The objective of the proposed work is to determine which types of influenza viruses circulate in Ontario swine. This will be achieved by full sequence analysis of representative influenza virus isolates. What is a representative influenza virus isolate will be determined by doing phylogenetic analysis of the gene segments encoding the hemagglutinin (HA) influenza virus glycoproteins of samples that tested positive for influenza virus in this study, as evaluated by virological test in embryonated chicken eggs. Samples for the study will be collected through one of the two sampling mechanisms: (i) regular herd visits, (ii) investigation of influenza-like disease on swine farms. Field samples (ie, nasal swabs) will be submitted to the research laboratory either by a field crew from the Department of Population Medicine (University of Guelph), or by herd veterinarians. To collect samples, a standard protocol will be used. This information will be important for vaccine manufacturers in order to produce the most updated vaccine for influenza in swine. In addition, it will be important for producers to make informed decisions about the choice of vaccines that would have the strains most similar to strains that circulate in Ontario. The information in this study could also be used for tracing long-term trends of dominant strains in the Ontario swine population.