Animal influenza virus infections in humans: A commentary

Abstract

Here we review evidence for influenza A viruses (IAVs) moving from swine, avian, feline, equine, and canine species to infect humans. We review case reports, sero-epidemiological, archeo-epidemiological, environmental, and historical studies and consider trends in livestock farming. Although this focused review is not systematic, the aggregated data point to industrialized swine farming as the most likely source of future pandemic viruses, yet IAV surveillance on such farms is remarkably sparse. We recommend increased biosafety and biosecurity training for farm administrators and swine workers with One Health-oriented virus surveillance throughout industrialized farming and meat production lines. Collaborative partnerships with human medical researchers could aid in efforts to mitigate emerging virus threats by offering new surveillance and diagnostic technologies to livestock farming industries.

Keywords: Global diseases; Infectious animal diseases; Influenza; One health; Pandemics; Zoonosis.