Human infection by a swine influenza A (H1N1) virus in Switzerland

The isolation of A/Switzerland/8808/2002 provides further evidence of sporadic human infection by contemporary swine influenza A H1N1 viruses, antigenically and genetically distinct from H1N1 viruses circulating in the human population. Together with the recent emergence of human-swine-avian reassortant viruses in pig populations in Europe and North America, frequent transmission between swine and human populations emphasises the potential for the emergence in pigs of novel subtypes with the capacity to cause major human epidemics.