Risk of Swine influenza for veterinary medicine and human health in Ukraine

Abstract

The article provides a brief review of the literature on influenza viruses, including their prevalence, classification, pathogenicity, ability to mutate and reassort, and some peculiarities of their biological properties. Special attention is given to swine influenza, since interspecies transmission of influenza viruses between pigs and humans can have serious consequences for both human and veterinary medicine. The results of pilot studies conducted at the NSC ‘IECVM’ prove the circulation of influenza A viruses among pigs in Ukraine — 324 samples of blood sera from pigs of different age groups from different regions of Ukraine were tested using an ELISA test system, 48 (14.8%) positive samples were found. Seroprevalence reached 100% in some farms and antibodies were detected in animals aged 24–73 days. The prospect of further work is to conduct surveillance studies (serological, molecular biological, virological) of pigs in both large breeding complexes and private households to detect antibodies to influenza A and, based on the results obtained, to draw conclusions about the circulation of influenza A viruses in Ukraine