Earlier this year, Dr. Fabian Chamba Pardo successfully defended his PhD under the supervision of Drs. Montse Torremorell and Marie Culhane. The focus of his thesis is influenza epidemiology with an emphasis on sow farms and nurseries. We share with you today a summary of his work.
Motivation
Influenza is an economically important disease in pigs and a public health threat. Breed-to-wean (BTW) farms play a central role in influenza epidemiology and control because piglets maintain and disseminate influenza A virus (IAV) to other farms. Despite the importance of piglets in influenza epidemiology, there is limited information on IAV infection parameters in piglets, risk factors that impact IAV prevalence in piglets at weaning, and how strategies that are implemented in BTW farms affect IAV infections in weaned pigs.
Objectives
In this thesis, my goal was to address some of the questions that are central to the transmission and control of influenza in BTW farms, especially infection in piglets ready to wean. The questions addressed are also critical to guide control strategies to mitigate IAV infections in the post weaning period. More specifically, I aimed to: 1) estimate herd-level prevalence and seasonality of influenza in BTW farms, 2) evaluate farm factors associated with IAV infection in piglets at weaning, 3) assess transmission patterns and parameters of influenza in nursery pigs based on IAV prevalence at weaning, and 4) evaluate the impact of maternally-derived antibodies (MDA) at weaning on IAV infection parameters in nursery pigs.
Research Chapter 1
Influenza herd-level prevalence and seasonality in breed-to-wean pig farms in the Midwestern United States
Article published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2017.00167/full
Results showed that IAV herd-level prevalence in piglets at weaning from Midwestern BTW farms is seasonal with higher infection rates in winter (December) and spring (May) than those in summer and fall. Additionally, influenza seasonality was partially explained by the seasonal variations of outdoor air absolute humidity and temperature. Finally, there was significant genetic diversity of influenza strains circulating in those farms and that, co-circulation of more than one genetically distinct clade over time was very common in the studied farms. This is critical knowledge that may help to identify high risk periods where influenza control measures can be placed. It may also help to create research opportunities on absolute humidity and influenza transmission in pigs and finally, it supports other studies that have shown that genetic diversity and circulation is wide and common and that new vaccines and vaccination strategies should take that into consideration.
Research Chapter 2
Breed-to-wean farm factors associated with influenza A virus infection in piglets at weaning
In this chapter, there were 24 farm factors evaluated for their association with influenza at weaning and among those, only IAV sow vaccination and the IAV-negative status of replacement breeding females (gilts) at entry to the herd were significantly associated with less IAV infected piglets at weaning. This is critical information that veterinarians and producers may use to manage IAV levels at weaning. In addition, there was also a lack of significant association with factors such as air filtration and farm density which may be indicative that endemic influenza infections are more important than airborne lateral transmissions between farms. Finally, disease control strategies such as herd closure, early weaning, batch farrowing, gilt isolation and gilt influenza vaccination were not fully evaluated in this study. Hence, more work is needed to further understand how to use these strategies to decrease influenza infections in pigs.
Research Chapter 3
Influenza A virus transmission patterns and parameters in growing pigs
Results indicate that groups of piglets with different prevalence at weaning had different transmission patterns and parameters after weaning and these patterns were characterized by 1, 2 or no peaks of infection after weaning. Piglets with low prevalence at weaning had less influenza infections in the nursery. This information may help producers and veterinarians to make informed decisions when it comes to use control strategies such as sow vaccination aimed to reduce influenza infections in the nursery.
Research Chapter 4
Effect of maternally-derived antibodies on influenza A virus infection in growing pigs
In my last chapter, I reported that if pigs had high levels of strain-specific maternally-derived antibodies at weaning, IAV infection occurred later and it was of shorter duration after weaning. Piglets with hemagglutination inhibition (HI) titers of 1:40 or higher were less likely to test IAV positive at weaning and during the nursery. These results indicate that strain-specific maternally-derived antibodies generated with sow vaccination pre-farrow significantly reduce influenza infections at weaning and in the nursery.
Conclusions
Knowledge of influenza seasonality and what factors are significantly associated with influenza in breed-to-wean farms can help producers and veterinarians to better use and allocate influenza control strategies such as sow vaccination. In addition, lower prevalence of influenza at weaning due to high strain-specific maternally-derived antibodies levels may help decrease influenza spread from wean-to-finish farms. Reducing the burden of influenza in growing pigs should decrease influenza-associated economic losses and the generation of novel strains, including strains with pandemic potential. More studies are needed to further elucidate control strategies to limit influenza infections and spread in pigs.