During its board meeting on June 11, 2021, the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) Board of Directors voted to extend the Swine Disease Reporting System (SDRS), that makes up the Domestic Swine Disease Monitoring Report in the monthly newsletter, for another year. Launched in 2017 with SHIC funding, the SDRS has provided monthly reports on swine disease activity based on aggregated veterinary diagnostic lab (VDL) data. The reports are published in the monthly SHIC newsletter and posted on the Center’s website. This report, developed by staff from Iowa State University (ISU) with data from ISU, University of Minnesota, South Dakota State University and Kansas State University (KSU), is currently the only publicly available source of swine health information from VDLs.
Author Archives: Paul Sundberg
SHIC Updates Nipah and Rubulavirus Fact Sheets to Aid US Swine Industry
The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) continues to review and update Swine Disease Fact Sheets posted on its website as part of its mission to protect the health of the US swine herd. The information in updated fact sheets provides guidance and resources for producers, practitioners, and diagnosticians who are on the front lines of swine health concerns. Most recently, fact sheets on Nipah virus (NiV) and porcine rubulavirus (PoRV) were posted.
SHIC Offers Resources on PRRS 1-4-4 lineage 1c Outbreaks
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) 1-4-4 lineage 1c outbreaks in upper Midwest swine barns began in late 2020. To share information on this virulent strain impacting pork producers regionally, the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), with co-sponsor American Association of Swine Veterinarians, offered a webinar on PRRSV 1-4-4 on February 4, 2021. SHIC also developed an episode of SHIC Talk, its podcast, posted on February 15, 2021, to share information on the PRRSv strain exhibiting dramatic clinical signs in all stages of production. In addition, completed SHIC projects focus on biosecurity that could help to prevent farm outbreaks.
SHIC Swine Disease Fact Sheet Updates Offer Current Research on Chikungunya, Menangle, and Sapovirus
Already this spring, the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) has completed Emerging Disease Fact Sheet updates on getah virus, S. zooepidemicus, and Salmonella 1,4,[5],12:i:-. And more recently, three more updated fact sheets on Chikungunya virus, Menangle virus, and Porcine sapovirus have been posted as well. SHIC continually updates its Swine Disease Fact Sheet library so these expert-prepared documents are available to benefit producers, practitioners, and diagnosticians to assist when an emerging disease is found.
SHIC/CEID Partnership Examines Swine Bacterial Pathogens Risk
The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) 2021 Plan of Work includes the commitment to join with other organizations to help to fill gaps in research and information needed to prevent, prepare, and respond to foreign animal or emerging diseases. SHIC has focused on viral pathogens/diseases of swine because of the risk they present to the US swine herd by virtue of their ability to travel and transmit. SHIC also takes seriously the potential for bacteria, which can also be pathogens, to cause emerging disease. To provide needed information on bacteria, SHIC recently executed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Georgia Research Foundation to become a member of the Global Infectious Disease Intelligence Consortium and work with the Foundation’s Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases (CEID). The objective is to add another source of relevant information about existing and emerging infectious diseases. The result will be better intel on possible emerging bacteria to go along with the current information on potential emerging viruses.
SHIC Develops New Salmonella 1,4,[5],12:i:- Fact Sheet per Industry Input
Salmonella 1,4,[5],12:i:-, an emerging serotype in swine, has become one of the most identified serotypes in pigs, pork, and humans worldwide. It captured the attention of an American Association of Swine Veterinarians member who recommended the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) develop a fact sheet on this bacteria for the benefit of the US pork industry. As a result, the new S. 1,4,[5],12:i:- Fact Sheet has been posted and contains valuable information on the serotype. This project represents SHIC’s mission of responding to industry needs. You are welcome to send ideas, questions, and suggestions for SHIC by email shic@swinehealth.org or call 515-598-4553. As in this instance, SHIC will provide a timely response with good science to benefit the industry, maintaining a regularly updated Fact Sheet library.
SHIC’s USDA FAS Grant-Funded ASF Seminars in Vietnam Begin
The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), with support from the National Pork Producers Council, obtained a USDA Foreign Ag Service grant to fund workshops on African swine fever (ASF) in Vietnam. Now underway, the workshops are conducted for SHIC by the University of Minnesota’s (UMN’s) Center for Animal Health and Food Safety (CAHFS) via ProgRESSVet. CAHFS is a World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) collaborating center for capacity building on OIE Advanced Competencies. ProgRESSVet has been active in countries around the world where each offering is adapted to the needs of the targeted country. ProgRESSVet Vietnam is a partnership between the USDA, SHIC, and the Vietnamese Department of Animal Health (DAH), facilitated by UMN CAHFS. The goal of the workshops in Vietnam is helping the DAH workforce acquire knowledge and develop skills on OIE Advanced Competencies with a focus on the prevention and control of ASF.
SHIC Grant-Funded Study in Vietnam Indicates Rodents May Be Low Risk ASF Vector
A research project on African swine fever (ASF) in Vietnam, made possible by a USDA Foreign Ag Service grant obtained by the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) with support from the National Pork Producers Council, examined the potential for rodents to serve as vectors of the devastating virus. Rodent vectors are a possible transmission route long-established for other swine diseases, but uncharacterized for ASF. Work conducted by researchers from South Dakota State University and the Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) on Vietnamese farms with differing biosecurity levels provided information that suggests rodents are not a high risk of being ASF vectors.
SHIC-Funded ASF Molecular Epidemiology Project Identifies Prevention and Control Gaps
A project to summarize current knowledge and remaining gaps regarding the molecular epidemiology of African swine fever (ASF) was funded by the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC). The unprecedented expansion of ASF during the last five years produced a 218% increase in the volume of scientific publications on the subject compared to the previous five years (2010 to 2014). Due to this volume, a critical need to synthesize available scientific evidence to support and facilitate translation of the new evidence into updates for regulations and policy framework, and management recommendations for the industry, was apparent. Staff at the Center for Animal Health and Food Safety (CAHFS) at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine conducted a systematic review of current literature including, but not restricted to, genetic diversity of strains, the association between sequence data, and epidemiological or pathogenic features, and development and performance of molecular diagnostic tools.
SHIC Issues Call for Research Funding Proposals: Bioexclusion and Biocontainment
The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) 2021 Plan of Work includes the investigation of biocontainment and bioexclusion as tools to help prevent or control an emerging swine disease outbreak on farms. To achieve this objective, SHIC is soliciting proposals to investigate cost-effective, innovative technologies, protocols, or ideas to implement biocontainment in the face of an emerging disease outbreak on swine farms. SHIC is also soliciting proposals to investigate cost-effective, innovative technologies, protocols, or ideas to implement bioexclusion to prevent or control an emerging disease outbreak on swine farms.