Iowa State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VDL)
at Ames closely monitors the incidence of animal diseases,
including those caused by swine influenza viruses (SIV). The VDL
uses state-of-the-art molecular diagnostic technology to
diagnose SIV, track seasonal trends for prevalence and monitor
which SIV strains or subtypes are most prevalent. This helps
veterinarians and producers understand herd health status and
appropriate vaccine or control measures. The emergence of the
H1N1 influenza A virus that sickened people has led ISU swine
veterinarian and virologist K.J. Yoon and his team of molecular
diagnosticians to analyze a bank of SIV viruses from case
submissions from October 2008 to April 2009. The goal is to
determine if the H1N1 flu virus is in the Iowa swine population.
So far, screening of samples has not detected the Novel H1N1
virus in the domestic hog population. “Each day we are learning
more about this novel influenza virus,” Yoon says. “We are
particularly learning about its genetic