Novel triple-reassortant H1N1 swine influenza viruses in pigs in Tianjin, Northern China

- Novel triple-reassortant H1N1 swine influenza viruses were isolated from pigs in China.
- Novel viruses contained genes from the 2009 pandemic H1N1, Eurasian swine and triple-reassortant swine lineages.
- The emergence of these viruses may be a potential threat to human health.

Pigs are susceptible to both human and avian influenza viruses and therefore have been proposed to be mixing vessels for the generation of pandemic influenza viruses through reassortment. In this study, for the first time, we report the isolation and genetic analyses of three novel triple-reassortant H1N1 swine influenza viruses from pigs in Tianjin, Northern China. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these novel viruses contained genes from the 2009 pandemic H1N1 (PB2, PB1, PA and NP), Eurasian swine (HA, NA and M) and triple-reassortant swine (NS) lineages. This indicated that the reassortment among the 2009 pandemic H1N1, Eurasian swine and triple-reassortant swine influenza viruses had taken place in pigs in Tianjin and resulted in the generation of new viruses. Furthermore, three human-like H1N1, two classical swine H1N1 and two Eurasian swine H1N1 viruses were also isolated during the swine influenza virus surveillance from 2009 to 2013, which indicated that multiple genetic lineages of swine H1N1 viruses were co-circulating in the swine population in Tianjin, China. The emergence of novel triple-reassortant H1N1 swine influenza viruses may be a potential threat to human health and emphasizes the importance of further continuous surveillance.