When highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) struck the U.S. dairy industry in March 2024, the swine industry kept a close eye on what was unfolding to better understand potential introduction into swine.
“We really wanted to take a proactive approach from the swine industry’s perspective on understanding what this would look like in pigs,” says Megan Niederwerder, executive director of the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC). “Would it look like endemic influenza? What would be the clinical response? Could it cause mastitis in our sow farms, or would it be a high mortality incident similar to poultry with significant death loss and severe disease?”
Although there was a single case in backyard swine in Oregon in October of 2024, the pigs never had clinical signs, she explains.
“These were outdoor, backyard raised pigs that were never intended for the food supply, they did not show clinical signs, and they were exposed due to co-housing with poultry that were infected,” Niederwerder says. “Because of that, we wanted to look at the risk factors for introduction into commercial swine. How can we prevent it? How can we mitigate it? How can we be prepared so we can inform producers and veterinarians what to look for, how to collect samples and how to detect it?”
Investing in Answers
One of the efforts of SHIC was to form the H5N1 Risk to Swine Research Program, along with the Pork Checkoff and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research. Producers, veterinarians and other key stakeholders within the swine industry helped to identify gaps in knowledge and develop the research priorities. Through this total investment of $4 million, the organizations received a total of 51 proposals. These proposals went through a competitive peer review process during the first several months of 2025, Niederwerder explains.
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