Influenza Virus Infection in Guinea Pigs Raised as Livestock, Ecuador - Vol. 18 No. 7 - July 2012 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

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Influenza Virus Infection in Guinea Pigs Raised as Livestock, Ecuador - Vol. 18 No. 7 - July 2012 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

 
Table of Contents
Volume 18, Number 7–July 2012

Volume 18, Number 7—July 2012

Dispatch

Influenza Virus Infection in Guinea Pigs Raised as Livestock, Ecuador

Article Contents

• The Study
• Conclusions
• Acknowledgment
• References
• Figure 1
• Figure 2
• Table 1
• Table 2
• Suggested Citation

Victor H. Leyva-Grado, Samira Mubareka, Florian Krammer, Washington B. Cárdenas, and Peter Palese

Author affiliations: Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA (V.H. Leyva-Grado, F. Krammer, P. Palese); Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (S. Mubareka); and; Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL), Guayaquil, Ecuador (W.B. Cárdenas)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract

To determine whether guinea pigs are infected with influenza virus in nature, we conducted a serologic study in domestic guinea pigs in Ecuador. Detection of antibodies against influenza A and B raises the question about the role of guinea pigs in the ecology and epidemiology of influenza virus in the region.

Influenza A virus infection causes disease in humans and domestic animals, including pigs, horses, and chickens, and seasonal epidemics among humans in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres result in hospitalizations and deaths worldwide. Influenza A virus transmission studies are often conducted in laboratory guinea pigs (1,2) because the virus can efficiently spread from infected animals to naive guinea pigs by direct and indirect (short-range infectious aerosols) contact (3,4). However, whether guinea pigs are naturally infected with influenza virus outside the laboratory setting is not known.
In some regions of South America, guinea pigs are part of the traditional cuisine and are produced as livestock and sold commercially for human consumption. Guinea pigs are customarily raised on small rural farms in proximity to other livestock. Circulation of influenza virus in these populations has not been studied. Given the effect of influenza virus on human health and the susceptibility of guinea pigs to influenza virus infection in the laboratory, it is worthwhile to determine whether influenza virus can spread among guinea pigs in agricultural settings. As an initial step in this endeavor, we obtained serum samples from domestic guinea pigs in Ecuador and tested them for the presence of influenza antibodies to determine whether the guinea pigs had been infected with influenza virus.