Pig holdings as a reservoir for novel influenza viruses – study of FLI and partners identifies viruses with pre-pandemic potential : FLI Press release 06/2020

Insel Riems, 27 July 2020. Pig holdings are important reservoirs for an increasing number of diverse influenza viruses, some of which can be transmitted to humans and may have pre-pandemic potential. The fact that this also applies to European pig holdings is shown by a comprehensive study coordinated by the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) and the Freiburg University Medical Center and carried out with further partners in a research project funded by CEVA Tiergesundheit GmbH. More than 18,000 individual samples from almost 2,500 European pig holdings affected by respiratory diseases of pigs were investigated. This study has been published today in the well-respected scientific journal „Cell Host & Microbe“.