Zoonotic infection with swine A/H1avN1 influenza virus in a child, Germany, June 2020.

A zoonotic A/sw/H1avN1 1C.2.2 influenza virus infection was detected in a German child that presented with influenza-like illness, including high fever. There was a history of close contact with pigs 3 days before symptom onset. The child recovered within 3 days. No other transmissions were observed. Serological investigations of the virus isolate revealed cross-reactions with ferret antisera against influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus, indicating a closer antigenic relationship with A(H1N1)pdm09 than with the former seasonal H1N1 viruses.

[Pathologic-anatomical changes in newborn goats caused by an intrauterine Schmallenberg virus infection]. / Pathologisch-anatomische Veränderungen bei Ziegenlämmern, verursacht durch eine intrauterine Schmallenberg-Virus- Infektion.

A complex of various malformations in newborns was observed to an increased extent in sheep farms in the 2011/2012 lambing season. An intrauterine Schmallenberg virus (SBV) infection was identified as the cause of these malformations. To date, a detailed pathological description of the deformity complex has only been given for bovine and ovine newborns.The aim of this study was therefore to provide a description of pathologic-anatomical congenital malformations in goat kids caused by intrauterine SBV infection. To this end, pathologic-anatomical and molecular biological investigations by PCR were carried out on 37 goat kids and 457 lambs from 238 sheep and goat farms in order to carry out an interspecies comparison. Of the 37 goat kids dissected, it was possible to identify a SBV infection in twelve animals (32.4%) by RT-PCR. In nine animals (24.3%) displaying pathological-anatomical malformations SBV could not be detected by PCR. The following malformations were observed: athrogryposis, deformation of spinal column, torticollis, asymmetry of the skull, brachygnathia inferior, cerebellar hypoplasia, cerebellar aplasia and internal hydrocephalus. Arthogryposis was the most common malformation, both in animals with positive PCR results and those with negative PCR results. This study documents congenital malformations caused by an intrauterine SBV infection for the first time on a large number of newborn goats.

[Investigation about development of alternative efficacy verifications of swine erysipelas vaccines]

Vaccination is the most effective prophylaxis against swine erysipelas. Vaccines are usually tested for efficacy by a challenge of vaccinated and untreated pigs. Up to now the efforts to replace the infection test by a serological method have been limited to the potency test in laboratory animals. Here we provide evidence that the measurement of antibodies by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) after vaccination and challenge is also possible in the target species. Pig sera were tested for titre development after a single and repeated vaccination in clinical trials. The efficacy of the vaccines was confirmed by a challenge, which demonstrated that all immunized pigs survived with no signs of disease whereas all control animals became severely ill. The ELISA was also used to measure erysipelas antibodies after immunization of pigs with several vaccines in a field trial. The ELISA may be a suitable alternative to replace the challenge methods currently used for testing of erysipelas vaccines.