Bioaerosol and surface sampling for the surveillance of influenza A virus in swine.

Influenza A virus in swine is of significant importance to human and veterinary public health. Environmental sampling techniques that prove practical would enhance surveillance for influenza viruses in swine. The primary objective of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of bioaerosol and surface sampling for the detection of influenza virus in swine barns with a secondary objective of piloting a mobile application for data collection.

Development and Validation of a Standardized Tool for Prioritization of Information Sources.

Purpose: To validate the utility and effectiveness of a standardized tool for prioritization of information sources for early detection of diseases.

Methods: The tool was developed with input from diverse public health experts garnered through survey. Ten raters used the tool to evaluate ten information sources and reliability among raters was computed.

Swine influenza test results from animal health laboratories in Canada.

Due to its infrastructure and partnerships the Canadian Animal Health Surveillance Network was able to rapidly collect test results from 9 Canadian laboratories that were conducting primary testing for influenza on swine-origin samples, in response to the threat posed by the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus in 2009.