First International Swine Influenza Symposium Brings Diagnostics, Surveillance, Vaccination and One Health Together

23–25 September 2026 | Zagreb, Croatia | Swine Health | One Health

The 1st International Symposium on Swine Influenza: From Science to Policies is bringing researchers, veterinarians, epidemiologists, policymakers and animal-health companies together in Zagreb from 23–25 September 2026.

Organised by the Croatian Veterinary Institute and European Swine Influenza Network (ESFLU), the symposium is focused on translating research into practical surveillance, prevention and policy. Organisers expect approximately 150–200 participants.

A three-day One Health agenda

The programme covers the full swine-influenza control chain:

Diagnostics → Surveillance → Virus evolution → Biosecurity → Vaccination → Economics → Zoonotic risk → Policy

The opening day focused on ESFLU’s collaborative work, including diagnostics, virus dynamics, surveillance, biosecurity and economics.

The scientific programme then moved into virus evolution, diagnostic methods, epidemiology and surveillance before concluding with prevention and control.

Genomic surveillance becomes central

One of the most important themes is the continuing genetic diversity and evolution of swine influenza A viruses. The programme includes presentations on:

• Evolution of influenza surface proteins

• Genetic diversity in Spanish pig farms

• Human-derived H3N2 viruses in pigs

• H3N2 detection in Great Britain

• Eurasian avian-like swine influenza

• Environmental and occupational surveillance

• Genomic surveillance and sequencing

The agenda demonstrates that modern swine influenza control is increasingly dependent on continuous molecular surveillance rather than periodic outbreak investigation alone.

Non-invasive surveillance

The symposium also features research into alternative sampling approaches, including electrostatic dust collection and environmental/air sampling. This is strategically important because large-scale surveillance becomes easier when samples can be collected without repeatedly handling individual pigs.

Potentially, this could lower surveillance costs while increasing sampling frequency.

Vaccination and prevention

The final day focuses on prevention and control, including:

• Swine influenza vaccine pipelines

• Vaccine-induced immunity

• Vaccination strategies in sow herds

• Biosecurity

• RNA-particle vaccines

• Stakeholder perceptions

• Economic impact

Ceva Animal Health is supporting the symposium as a Gold Sponsor, reflecting the commercial importance of influenza prevention and surveillance to the swine-health sector.

Strategic / Analyst View

The symposium reflects a broader transformation in livestock disease management. Swine influenza is increasingly being approached as a continuous population-management problem, not simply an acute respiratory disease.

The emerging model is:

Routine surveillance → genomic intelligence → strain tracking → risk assessment → targeted vaccination → biosecurity → economic measurement.

This has direct implications for animal-health companies. The future opportunity is likely to extend beyond vaccines into:

• Molecular diagnostics

• Environmental sampling

• Genomic surveillance

• Digital epidemiology

• Biosecurity technologies

• Farm-level analytics

• Risk-management platforms

Bottom line

The Zagreb symposium reinforces a central industry trend: swine influenza management is moving toward integrated surveillance and One Health systems in which diagnostics, genomics, vaccination, biosecurity and economics operate as one disease-control framework.