title: A possible outbreak of swine influenza, 1892.
abstract: Influenza A viruses are globally enzootic in swine populations. Swine influenza has been recognised only since 1918, but an anecdotal report suggests that a swine-influenza epizootic might have occurred in England in 1892, at the same time as an explosive epidemic (or pandemic recurrence) of human influenza. This outbreak suggests that the ecobiological association between human and swine influenza could extend to before 1918. By contrast with the recent documentation of swine influenza, influenza in horses has been well documented for hundreds of years, and was often linked temporally and geographically to epidemics of human influenza. Both decreased contact between people and horses, and the concomitant increase in swine production over the past century, might have altered the character and dynamics of influenza host-switch events between people and domestic mammals.
authors.affiliation: Office of the Director, Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: dmorens@niaid.nih.gov.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Morens
authors.affiliation: Viral Pathogenesis and Evolution Section, Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffery K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Taubenberger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000266:history / Q000662:veterinary*; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history; D009976:Orthomyxoviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history / Q000662:veterinary*; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history*; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history*