World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

REVIEW ON SWINE INFLUENZA: AN EMERGING VIRAL ZOONOSIS

Addisu Demeke, Yibrah Tekle* and Yared Shalche

ABSTRACT

Swine influenza is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by SIV Subtypes (type A influenza virus commonly) Which belong to the Orthomyxoviridae family. It causes regular outbreaks in pigs resulting in significant economic losses in industry, primarily by causing poor growth, weight loss and extended time to market. Influenza virus was first isolated from pigs in North America in 1930 and recognized clinically during the summer of 1918 in the United States, at about the time of the Spanish influenza pandemic.The viruses can cause mild to severe illness sometimes resulting in death. In pigs, influenza infection produces fever, lethargy, sneezing, coughing (barking), difficulty breathing, depression, discharge from the nose or eyes, sneezing, eye redness or inflammation and decreased appetite.The gold standard for diagnosing swine influenza is a viral culture from the nasal secretion.The main route of transmission of the disease among pigs is through direct contact between infected and uninfected animals (Pigs) and possibly from contaminated objects moving between infected and uninfected pigs. Influenza virus infections in swine and poultry are potential sources of viruses for the next pandemic among humans. People with regular exposure to pigs are at increased risk of swine flu infection. Swine have receptors to which both avian and mammalian influenza viruses bind, which increases the potential for viruses to exchange genetic sequences and produce new reassortant viruses in swine.This means that they are thought to be “mixing vessels”. As a result, the use of control strategies, especially vaccination of pigs, is critical for the control of influenza virus infections among domestic animals, to reduce their potential as sources for outbreaks among humans. In addition, the vaccination of people who work with swine and poultry is encouraged to reduce the chance of human influenza viruses being spread to pigs.

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