Pathogenesis of an experimental coinfection of porcine parainfluenza virus 1 and influenza A virus in commercial nursery swine

Porcine parainfluenza virus 1 (PPIV-1) is a recently characterized swine respirovirus. Previous experimental studies reported PPIV-1 replicates in the porcine respiratory tract causing minimal clinical disease or lesions. However, it is unknown if PPIV-1 co-infections with viral respiratory pathogens would cause respiratory disease consistent with natural infections reported in the field. The objective of this study was to evaluate if PPIV-1 increases the severity of influenza A virus respiratory disease in swine. Fifty conventional, five-week-old pigs were assigned to one of three challenge groups (n = 15) or a negative control group (n = 5). Pigs were challenged with a & gamma;-cluster H1N2 influenza A virus in swine (IAV-S; A/Swine/North Carolina/00169/2006), PPIV-1 (USA/ MN25890NS/2016), inoculum that contained equivalent titers of IAV-S and PPIV-1 (CO-IN), or negative control. Clinical scores representing respiratory disease and nasal swabs were collected daily and all pigs were necropsied five days post inoculation (DPI). The CO-IN group demonstrated a significantly lower percentage of pigs showing respiratory clinical signs relative to the IAV-S challenge group from 2 to 4 DPI. The IAV-S and CO-IN groups had significantly lower microscopic composite lesion scores in the upper respiratory tract compared to the PPIV-1 group although the IAV-S and CO-IN groups had significantly higher microscopic composite lung lesion scores. Collectively, PPIV-1 did not appear to influence severity of clinical disease, macroscopic lesions, or alter viral loads detected in nasal swabs or necropsy tissues when administered as a coinfection with IAV-S. Studies evaluating PPIV-1 coinfections with different strains of IAV-S, different respiratory pathogens or sequential exposure of PPIV-1 and IAV-S are warranted.