<figure class="image image-style-align-right"><a href="https://ceirr-public-website-static-prod.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/At_the_Agricultural_Interface_Swine_Shows_and_the_Spread_of_Influenza_a533b13292.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://ceirr-public-website-static-prod.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/CEIRR_swine_infobyte_embed_3211f0e367.png" alt="CEIRR Swine Show Infobyte. Click to view full sized PDF."></a><figcaption>"At the Agricultural Interface: Swine Shows and the Spread of Influenza" infobyte. To view a full-size PDF version, click the image above.</figcaption></figure>Every year ~150 million people in North America visit agricultural fairs. Though only ~1.5% of the nearly 70 million pigs in the United States are exhibition swine, these animals come from various sources and commingle with each other and the public, creating a unique dynamic to amplify influenza viruses. Researchers from the Ohio State University, a <a href="/centers/sjceirr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SJCEIRR</a> institute, <a href="/search?keyword=Andrew%20Bowman" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Andrew Bowman, D.V.M., Ph.D.</a> and <a href="/search?keyword=Jacqueline%20Nolting" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jacqueline Nolting, Ph.D.</a>, lead influenza surveillance in exhibition swine to identify and characterize these viruses.Swine are important hosts for influenza viruses as they can be co-infected with influenza A viruses (IAV) from multiple host species. For example, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus originated from a North American swine IAV that was derived from avian, human, and swine influenza virus lineages. Agricultural fairs in which hundreds of pigs are cohoused and on display to the public create a unique dynamic in which IAVs may spill over into humans. Risk assessments have found that fairs with greater than 200 swine were more likely to include IAV-positive pigs, suggesting that reducing the number of pigs housed together would decrease the prevalence of influenza virus. Through the CEIRR Network, Drs. Bowman and Nolting and their teams perform surveillance of agricultural fairs to identify circulating IAVs and mitigation strategies to limit their amplification and transmission. Their research found that limiting swine exhibitions to less than 72 hours significantly reduced influenza prevalence, and fairs that adopted this policy saw decreased post-show cases.How Did They Start Studying Influenza in Swine?Both Dr. Bowman and Dr. Nolting are faculty at The Ohio State University in the Department of Veterinary Preventative Medicine, though neither set out to become experts in swine influenza. Dr. Bowman was a veterinary practitioner in the food animal practice at the onset of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and was contacted by <a href="https://vet.osu.edu/people/richard-slemons" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Richard Slemons, D.V.M., Ph.D.</a>, Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, about pursuing a Ph.D. project evaluating influenza in swine. This project was the origin of using county fairs as a source of swine surveillance.Upon completing her Bachelor's degree, Dr. Nolting joined Dr. Slemons' laboratory where she put her expertise in PCR into practice for wild bird surveillance on a one-year contract. As Dr. Nolting says, “My one year turned into a lot of years.”The Human-Swine InterfaceSince 2011, more than 500 spillover IAV cases from swine to humans have been reported, and the vast majority were linked to swine contact at agricultural fairs. Human-swine transmission is an extremely active, bidirectional interface. Not only can IAVs "jump" from swine to humans, but many swine IAVs originate from humans. While humans have limited diversity of circulating influenza viruses, pigs maintain co-circulation of many IAVs. This may be for a variety of reasons, such as host species differences or husbandry practices, but this wide variety of swine viruses is a potential source of novel IAVs that could spill over into humans.Though swine are an important reservoir for potential novel influenza virus introduction into humans, as Dr. Nolting says, “When we think about the thousands of people that are involved in agricultural fairs, to have 500 cases over the last 10 or 20 years, it’s a drop in the bucket... Alternatively, in order for those cases to be diagnosed and documented, a lot has to happen.” Detection and diagnosis of a variant case requires the infected person to feel unwell enough to seek care, for medical providers to test for influenza--usually outside of the virus’s seasonality as most agricultural fairs occur in the summer--and for the sample to be sequenced, identified, and reported. Dr. Nolting believes the risk to humans from exhibition swine is low but emphasizes the importance of human surveillance cohorts to identify variant cases that may otherwise go undocumented.Exhibition swine surveillance also informs commercial swine production. Viruses circulating and reassorting in exhibition swine can be compared to commercial swine to understand the flow of viral strains between the two. Evaluating human variant cases and performing serology to identify antibodies against specific IAVs are used to identify spillover events. This information is then used to implement appropriate mitigation measures and select vaccine virus strains.Building a Surveillance CommunityEstablishing a surveillance program is not as simple as going into the field and taking samples. According to Dr. Bowman, “Folks not involved in surveillance underestimate how many personal relationships it takes to do this stuff... It took a long time to build this project from the ground up of winning over fair organizers and folks who do that, and it takes a lot of maintenance of those relationships.” The ability to sample pigs and humans requires buy-in from the people organizing and hosting the shows and the people raising and showing the pigs. Providing education and sharing surveillance findings back with the exhibition swine community ensures long-term investment in the project. As Dr. Nolting says, “Most of my job is extension, and to me this is what extension is. Taking biological data, taking our surveillance data, and then turning it into information that can be useful to the people who are raising the pigs.” This give and take has allowed the program to expand beyond surveillance into experimenting with different mitigation strategies to protect swine and human health and underscores the importance of mutually beneficial relationships between researchers and the community. In the words of Dr. Bowman, “I think as we design other surveillance projects, if you want long-term maintenance we’ve got to make certain that it’s a two-way street.”These relationships have allowed Drs. Bowman and Nolting and their team to gather a wealth of data in the years since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. The way swine surveillance is conducted has changed over the years as these data are used to target sampling strategies and answer additional questions. By implementing data-driven surveillance, resources are used more economically to go where the viruses are. Dr. Bowman does caveat this approach, noting that, “We tend to go where we know we’ll find virus, which does somewhat limit the questions we can answer. We’re heavily biased toward finding virus... There’s a whole lot more out there.” Though Dr. Bowman and Dr. Nolting can’t sample every pig at every agricultural fair, their work has been critical to understanding influenza virus dynamics in exhibition swine and improving animal and human health.<hr>To read more about this topic, check out:<ul><li><a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9514346/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">McBride DS, et al. (2022) Shortening Duration of Swine Exhibitions to Reduce Risk for Zoonotic Transmission of Influenza A Virus. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 28(10): 2035-2042.</a></li><li><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33686399/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">McBride DS, et al. (2021) Tracing the Source of Influenza A Virus Zoonoses in Interconnected Circuits of Swine Exhibitions. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 224(3): 458-468.</a></li><li><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38110691/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Szablewski CM, et al. (2024) Evolution of influenza A viruses in exhibition swine and transmission to humans, 2013-2015. Zoonoses Public Health. 71(3): 281-293.</a></li><li>Additional CEIRR publications on <a href="/resources/publications?keyword=swine+influenza">influenza in swine</a>.</li></ul>

Spotlight

iDPCC

SJCEIRR

Infobyte

Influenza

Surveillance

SJCEIRR researchers study the movement of influenza viruses at the human-swine interface through agricultural fair surveillance.

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Swine Surveillance and the Spread of Influenza at Agricultural Exhibitions

<figure class="image image-style-align-left"><img src="https://ceirr-public-website-static-prod.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Sign4_3e4548f9eb.png"><figcaption>Options XIII Conference sign</figcaption></figure>The CEIRR Influenza Data Processing and Communication Center (iDPCC) attended the Options for the Control of Influenza XIII Conference, held in Washington, DC, from August 30–September 2, 2026, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The Options conference is the largest global scientific meeting focused on influenza prevention, control, and treatment, bringing together researchers, public health professionals, healthcare experts, and other members of the influenza community from around the world.The 4-day conference featured speakers and posters from many CEIRR investigators, focusing on influenza research and risk assessment. CEIRR Principal Investigator Andrew Pekosz, Ph.D., from JH-CEIRR, co-chaired the conference. Together, the participation of CEIRR investigators and Dr. Pekosz’s leadership highlighted the breadth of expertise and contributions of the CEIRR Network to influenza research and risk assessment.Holly May, Ph.D., the iDPCC Center Coordinator, represented the Network at the iDPCC booth. She shared outreach materials about the <a href="https://www.ceirr-network.org/pilot-research-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CEIRR Pilot Research Program</a>, <a href="https://www.ceirr-network.org/resources/reagents" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CEIRR Reagents</a> and the new NIAID Flu Hub <a href="https://www.fluhub.org/resources/biospecimen" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Clinical Biospecimen Repository</a>. The booth provided an opportunity to highlight CEIRR resources and capabilities while engaging with researchers and potential collaborators from across the influenza community.The iDPCC appreciated the opportunity to represent the CEIRR Network at Options XIII and looks forward to continuing to share the Network’s accomplishments and resources at future conferences.

Meetings

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Penn-CEIRR

Conferences

The iDPCC represented the CEIRR Network at Options XIII, connecting with researchers, public health professionals, and collaborators working to advance influenza prevention, control, and response.&nbsp;

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CEIRR Attends Options for the Control of Influenza XIII Conference 

The final <a href="https://www.ceirr-network.org/news/ceirr-annual-network-meeting-2026" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">5th Annual CEIRR Network Meeting (ANM)</a> Poster Winner in the spotlight series is Dr. Brady O'Boyle! Brady O’Boyle is a postdoctoral fellow in the <a href="https://www.ceirr-network.org/search?keyword=Bowman" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bowman Lab</a> at <a href="https://www.ceirr-network.org/centers/sjceirr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SJCEIRR</a>. Dr. O’Boyle was awarded First Place in the Surveillance category for his poster titled “Genomic Surveillance Reveals Critical Nodes for Influenza A Virus Spread Among Exhibition Swine at Agricultural Fairs.”<figure class="image image-style-align-right"><img src="https://ceirr-public-website-static-stag.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Photo_Brady_O_Boyle_1_bb554f6a23.jpg" alt="Photo of Brady O’Boyle"><figcaption>Photo of Brady O’Boyle</figcaption></figure>Thousands of people visit agricultural fairs annually where they come into contact with exhibition swine. Therefore, understanding the dynamics of virus transmission at the swine-human interface is critical for reducing biosecurity risks. Dr. O’Boyle’s work aims to identify agricultural fairs with elevated viral transmission. To do so, he performed phylogenetic and transmission modeling on genomic sequences isolated from exhibition swine across the Midwest and southern United States from 2022 to 2025. Using this data, Dr. O’Boyle was able to identify fairs with multiple virus introductions and track virus dissemination to other agricultural fairs. As he says, “These findings highlight opportunities for targeted interventions and underscore the need for enhanced surveillance to mitigate zoonotic risk at agricultural exhibitions.”The iDPCC asked O’Boyle to share more about his career and his interests:1. How has the CEIRR Program benefited your scientific training?A: The CEIRR Program has been indispensable in expanding my cross training. Before CEIRR I considered myself just a Bioinformatician and I did mainly structural biology. During my time working with CEIRR members I have become an interdisciplinary scientist. My work on influenza transmission in exhibition swine with Dr. Martha Nelson, Dr. Jacqueline Nolting and my mentor, Dr. Andrew Bowman, have trained me in more advanced bioinformatic techniques, such as phylodynamics, as well as virology, epidemiology, public health, and animal science. &nbsp;2. What motivates you to study your current research project(s)?A: I enjoy the explorative aspects of science and there is no better place to explore than the boundaries of the animal-human interface. It feels like spelunking, finding a new strain or a new reassortant and following it back to its origins. The excitement and wonder of discovery is what keeps me motivated.3. What impact do you hope your current research project will have?A: I hope my work will emphasize the importance of bio-security as a One Health strategy that benefits both sides of the human-animal interface. &nbsp;4. Who/what inspired you to go into science in general?A: Funny enough, Punnett Squares. I was in middle school when I was first introduced to Punnett Squares. The idea that these small diagrams could predict something as abstract as phenotypes set me on my path to becoming a researcher.5. What is one thing on your bucket list?A: I have always wanted to visit the 7 wonders of the natural world, the first one on my list is to see the northern lights.6. How have your career interests and plans changed over time?A: When I was in undergrad I planned to be a geneticist, that’s even what my degree is in. Then I worked in a lab where we were looking at snake venom and I remember that PI nudging me to do a PhD instead of stopping at my bachelors. I decided, why not? It was the best “Why not?" moment and the rest has been history.7. What are your plans following your training?&nbsp;A: I am keeping myself open to opportunity following my training. I couldn’t have imagined I’d be doing my current work a year ago, so I don’t want to limit myself by imagining what I’ll do 2 years from now. Currently I’m very interested in modeling transmission networks of animal origin viruses, as well as evaluating how viral genomic and proteomic diversity contribute to host specificity.8. What’s one thing you wish you knew when you started your research?A: I wish I knew that so much of your research career relies upon you setting your own guidelines. You have to be your own compass to navigate the academic landscape.9. What is your favorite assay or technique?A: I’m a visual learner, so I enjoy using sequence logos and phylogenetics to visualize differences between sequence datasets.10. Do you have any hobbies or special interests that you'd like to share?A: I’m a big Magic the Gathering fan, specifically the commander format. &nbsp;

Awards

O’Boyle describes his work to identify agricultural fairs with elevated viral transmission in exhibition swine.

Photo of Brady O’Boyle working at his computer with his cat, Penny. 

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Brady O’Boyle, Postdoctoral Fellow and Surveillance Poster Winner, Uses Modeling to Identify Transmission Hot Spots at the Human-Swine Interface

<figure class="image image-style-align-left image_resized" style="width:28.47%;"><img src="https://ceirr-public-website-static-stag.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Holly5_116959c19e.jpg"><figcaption>iDPCC Center Coordinator at the CEIRR Network booth</figcaption></figure>Members across the CEIRR Network attended the American Society for Virology (ASV) Annual Meeting 2026, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from July 27–30, 2026. ASV meetings are among the largest virology conferences in the world, bringing together national and international scientists to discuss research spanning basic virology, vaccines, and antiviral therapeutics. The meeting’s program was developed from more than 1,000 participant-submitted abstracts and included 17 invited symposium speakers and six State-of-the-Art speakers.&nbsp;CEIRR researchers presented their work throughout the meeting in one satellite symposium, 39 workshop talks, and 43 posters. Their participation highlighted the breadth and impact of research conducted across the CEIRR Network and provided opportunities for investigators, staff, and trainees to share findings, exchange ideas, and connect with collaborators from across the virology community.The CEIRR Influenza Data Processing and Communication Center (iDPCC) attended the ASV2026 vendor show. The iDPCC’s Center Coordinator, Holly May, Ph.D., represented the Network to share a variety of outreach materials about the <a href="https://www.ceirr-network.org/pilot-research-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CEIRR Pilot Research Program</a>, CEIRR <a href="https://www.ceirr-network.org/resources/reagents" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reagents</a> and the new <a href="https://www.fluhub.org/resources/biospecimen" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NIAID Flu Hub Clinical Biospecimen Repository</a>.&nbsp;The iDPCC enjoyed sharing the CEIRR Network’s accomplishments and capabilities at ASV2026 and looks forward to continuing to connect with researchers and collaborators at future conferences.

SARS-CoV-2

CEIRR researchers shared their work at ASV 2026 in Minneapolis through 1 satellite symposium, 39 workshop talks, and 43 posters, highlighting the Network’s virology research and collaboration across the meeting.

CEIRR

American Society for Virology (ASV) 2027

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