Antibodies to West Nile virus in Mexican pigs

Key words Epidemiology; Flavivirus; pigs; surveillance; West Nile virus; zoonotic diseases West Nile virus (WNV), a member of Flavivirus genus within the Flaviviridae family, is a mosquito-borne neurotropic viral pathogen maintained in an enzootic cycle between mosquitoes (vectors) and birds (natural hosts) with equids, humans, and other vertebrates acting as dead-end hosts1. [...]very few studies have addressed the worldwide prevalence of anti-WNV antibodies in swine. Even though, the role of pigs in the life cycle ofWNV still has to be elucidated, the virus has been shown to replicate at low levels in experimentally infected pigs without clinical signs9. [...]contrary to the WNV-related flavivirus Japanese encephalitis virus10, pigs are unlikely to play a role in WNV amplification in nature.