Swine part of swine flu reporting started at K-State

MANHATTAN, Kan. – It didn´t make the news. In 2007, however, a new 
pandemic-type swine influenza strain turned up in a Missouri herd. 

That startling fact emerged in testing at Kansas State University´s 
College of Veterinary Medicine, where Dick Hesse is director of 
diagnostic virology. The strain was an H2N3 virus. (The flu that´s 
making news now is an H1N1.)

“We were lucky the pandemic didn´t happen. The virus´ being an H2 
meant that there would be no immunity among people under age 40, 
because the last time we had an H2 influenza outbreak was 1968,” said 
Juergen Richt, K-State veterinary microbiologist and nationally 
recognized expert in zoonotic diseases – i.e., those that can be 
transmitted from animal to human and vice versa.

Identifying a new virus strain with the molecular signature of a 
pandemic agent isn´t an everyday event, even at research centers such 
as K-State. So, the scientists there weren´t quite sure what to do 
with their 2007 finding. They knew they needed to spread the word. 
But, no national reporting system was in place for the animal half of 
zoonotic diseases.

“It´s fair to say today´s reporting system started with USDA, the CDC 
and us two years ago,” Richt said.

He sees it as an important step toward one medicine – for zoonotic 
diseases, at least – which includes experts in both human and 
veterinary medicine, working together.