Antigenic drift in swine influenza H3 haemagglutinins with implications for vaccination policy
Vaccine·
- DOI
- 10.1016/s0264-410x(98)00392-2
- PMID
- 10195767
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- W2121008201
- Study type
- Genomic study
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The observed antigenic divergence between circulating swine H3N2 viruses and existing vaccine strains highlights the importance of matching veterinary vaccines to currently circulating strains to maintain effective protection in pig populations.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The study investigated antigenic drift in swine influenza A(H3N2) viruses by examining strains from respiratory disease outbreaks among finishing pigs in the Netherlands during 1996-1997 compared to earlier isolates.
Study design
The investigation employed haemagglutination inhibition testing to assess cross-reactivity between swine and human influenza A(H3N2) strains, combined with phylogenetic analysis of HA1 gene sequences to evaluate evolutionary relationships.
Population and setting
The study analyzed swine influenza A(H3N2) virus isolates from finishing pigs experiencing respiratory disease outbreaks in the Netherlands, with comparison to earlier strains from the 1980s and strains from Belgium.
Main findings
Recent Dutch and Belgian swine H3N2 isolates from 1996-1997 demonstrated substantially reduced antigenic cross-reactivity with human influenza A(H3N2) reference strains from the 1970s. Phylogenetic analysis positioned these recent swine isolates as a distinct evolutionary branch. Based on these findings, the authors proposed updating the vaccine strain from A/Port Chalmers/1/73 to a contemporary swine H3N2 isolate.
Public-health relevance
The observed antigenic divergence between circulating swine H3N2 viruses and existing vaccine strains highlights the importance of matching veterinary vaccines to currently circulating strains to maintain effective protection in pig populations.
Important limitations
This summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata. Formal evaluation of study quality, potential biases, or additional methodological details would require access to the full original publication.
GIDS interpretation
The study context aligns with broader influenza surveillance objectives by documenting antigenic evolution in an animal reservoir, which contributes to understanding the diversity that surveillance systems monitor for potential zoonotic transmission events.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 12 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.