From the first detailed clinical description of the disease in the Midwestern United States in 1918, to the isolation of the causative agent, the first of any influenza virus, in 1930 to its role in the genesis of the 2009 human pandemic, swine have played a central role in the ecology of influenza. Although not considered the major natural reservoir for influenza A viruses, swine are host to a limited but dynamic assortment of viruses. A number of subtypes of influenza A viruses of human and avian origin, including H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H7, and H9, have been isolated from global swine populations. Most of these isolations have, however, been limited in number and it is only H1 and H3 influenza viruses that are known to have formed stable lineages in swine. In this respect, swine influenza viruses (SIV) are similar to their counterparts in humans where H1 and H3 viruses have also been maintained. The nature of these H1 and H3 viruses differ between the two host populations, however, and, as discussed throughout this book, are even different in swine populations in different geographic regions of the world due to multiple introductions of avian and human influenza viruses.
 
 
 

Preface.- Overview of influenza viruses.- History of swine influenza.- Genetics, evolution and the zoonotic capacity of European swine influenza virus.- History of swine influenza virus.- Clinicopathological features of swine influenza.- Diagnostics and surveillance for swine influenza.- Contemporary epidemiology of North American lineage triple reassortant influenza A viruses in pigs.- History and epidemiology of swine influenza in Europe.- Swine influenza viruses: an Asian perspective.- Swine influenza virus vaccines - to change, or not to change: that's the question.- Swine influenza virus infections in man.- Interspecies transmission of influenza A viruses between swine and poultry.- The 2009 pandemic influenza virus: Where did it come from, where is it now, and where is it going? - Pandemic influenza  A H1N1 in swine and other animals.- Therapeutics against influenza.- Subject index.