Experimental infection of pigs with West Nile virus

Young adult and weanling pigs were challenged with the New York 99 strain of West Nile virus through the bite of infected mosquitoes. Each of six adult pigs seroconverted, but virus was isolated from serum of only one pig following challenge. Three of five weanling pigs developed viremia, with peak titers of 10(1.9) and 10(3.1) PFU/mL. Clinical signs attributable to West Nile virus infection were not observed in any of these animals. An additional four pigs were challenged by feeding West Nile virus-infected mice, and none of the four developed a detectable viremia or seroconverted. These results suggest that pigs are unlikely to play a significant role as amplifying hosts of West Nile virus.