Matthew Carballeira

Dr. Sharity Nelson

ENGL.130 Sec. 102

11/15/2023

Rhetorical Analysis of a Peer Reviewed Article About Influenza A Spread with Swine

“Movement Patterns of Exhibition Swine and Associations of Influenzas A Virus

Infection with Swine Management Practices” by Nola Bliss et al, is a scientific research paper

explaining the way that exhibition swine contributes to the spread of Influenza A. In the study,

the scientists gather data from “553 of the 578 (95.7%) counties in 6 surveyed Midwestern states

(Table 1).” (Bliss et al). The study begins with compiling a list of people to complete a lengthy

survey. Those who agreed to the survey were provided a “twenty-four-page survey containing

closed ended questions” that asked questions regarding various topics such as what areas they

had travelled to. (Bliss et al) Throughout the study, the authors build a sense of credibility,

appealing to the audience’s sense of fear, using a heat map and tables to show the number of

swine in tested Midwestern States, to successfully support their argument that the transmission of

Influenza A Virus, or IAV, is in credit of the movement of swine.

Firstly, the authors use their accolades to prove their argument are valid. For example,

Bliss et al, are all from “the Department of Veterinary Preventative Medicine, College of

veterinary medicine.” Additionally, Bliss presented this article at the “46 th Annual Meeting of the

American Association of Swine Veterinarian’s” (Bliss et al. 712) The authors of this article are

very knowledgeable in their respected fields. The authors are a group of researchers all with the

same goal in mind, identifying and relaying information about how swine encounters at county
fairs can spread IAV and what people can do to avoid it. They never truly address the readers

formally but rather compile evidence to explain their findings and help support their claims. As

an appeal to ethos the authors use their credibility in their fields as a basis for their work,

whereas presenting it aids in getting their point across significantly. The authors have all worked

very hard and are using this to keep building their credibility while also producing

knowledgeable papers to aid in the field of science.

Secondly, the study uses the statistics of the number of young children and elderly to

create a sense of fear that IAV is coming from encounters at said county fairs. As Bliss et al, says

“Individuals most likely to have severe consequences from seasonal and variant IAV infections

include those in high-risk groups such as children 5 and under and elderly greater than 65,

pregnant women, and the immunocompromised.” (706) People in the listed categories can use

this information to avoid swine if they are at a compromised level. While there are several

safeguards put into place to avoid and lessen the spread of the virus the probability of certain

groups becoming infected still exists. The authors use this information to get their point that

certain groups of people should not be attending these shows or exhibiting caution and taking

safety measures to avoid contamination, while ultimately not intending to create a spreading of

widespread fear. The authors also provide information on how individuals in good health can

take necessary precautions to avoid or minimize contact with infected swine. Owners of swine

are also provided with information about how they can help the spread of IAV by getting their

swine vaccinated against the disease. This would help contamination and spread tremendously,

before it is able to interfere with the human population.

Lastly, the authors further their study by providing numbers of exhibition and commercial

swine in several Midwestern states. They go a step further and highlight the states with the
largest density of swine in red and the lowest density in blue via heat maps. Bliss, Nola et al.,

states “Inventories of county fair exhibition swine were received from 553 of the 578 (95.7%)

counties in 6 surveyed Midwestern states (Table 1). The mean number of swine exhibited per

county fair ranged from 53.5 in Missouri to 226.8 in Indiana. Mapping of these data revealed that

the exhibition industry was concentrated in Indiana and Ohio, whereas of the 6 states evaluated,

the largest concentration of commercial swine was in Iowa (Figure 1).” The authors use a figure

instead of a chart to illustrate the concentration of swine in certain areas, using red to create a

sense of danger. This color appeals to the audience's inner fear, as it is associated with alarms or

fires, effectively conveying their point. The author uses red not only to scare but also to grab the

audience's attention and create a sense of concern by referencing past associations with the color.

With the use of blue the authors convey a sense of concernment, but not as alarming as the color

red. This color appeals to the audience by giving them a sense of calming, because blue is often

associated with relaxing or with calamity in the readers mind while also not letting it live up to

the hype of the color red. It’s striking enough to get people’s attention but not like the sense of

red. The use of colors in the article can highlight the information while capturing the audience’s

attention.

In conclusion, the study uses the authors credibility, the use of pathos in the article is by

appealing to the audience’s sense of fear, and lastly, furthering their point by using stastical

evidence like tables and charts to capture the audience’s attention with easy to decipher graphics.

The authors use this article to heighten the publics knowledge of the spread of IAV. The reader

should use this information to better understand the spread of IAV and helping prevent infection

in those they serve whether it is the public, veterinary patients, or commercial swine producers.
 Works Cited

Bliss, Nola et al, “Movement patterns of exhibition swine and associations of influenza A virus
infection with swine management practices”. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical
Association, vol. 251, no. 6, 2017, pp, 706–713. Academic search Complete
https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.251.6.706