A recent symposium held at the Center for the Ecology of Infectious Disease at the University of Georgia, sponsored in part by the Swine Health Information Center, addressed issues surrounding a 2022 outbreak of Japanese encephalitis in Australia affecting humans and animals. Reacting to the JE occurrence, SHIC along with the US pork industry began monitoring Australia’s situation and response to the outbreak. SHIC immediately began encouraging prevention and preparedness activities as pigs are JEV amplifying hosts. One major objective of the symposium was to further JEV prevention, preparation and control for the US. As such, identifying animals other than domestic pigs that can serve as JEV hosts in North America was a major topic of discussion.
Author Archives: Paul Sundberg
SHIC-Funded Project Looking at Vehicle Networks and Disease Dissemination
Work being conducted by Dr. Gustavo Machado and colleagues at North Carolina State University seeks to determine between-farm contact networks formed by different vehicle movements. The team has developed a novel model to reconstruct vehicle movement networks. Ongoing work will identify the vehicles that create more connections among the farms and consequently may play a role as disease super-spreaders in the network.
SHIC Rapid Response Teams Stand Ready
The Swine Health Information Center’s Rapid Response Program, an important part of SHIC-supported emerging disease preparedness, offers swine disease outbreak investigations combining biosecurity hazard analysis with outbreak analysis. The program covers the US with six defined regions. Due to the region’s small size, trained Rapid Response Team members from within the region can drive to outbreaks and be on site within 72 hours of invitation by the affected producer.
JEV Symposium: US Preparedness Underway
In February 2022, an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis in Australia drew the attention of pork producers, veterinarians, animal and public health government officials, and allied industries around the world. In the US, the pork industry began monitoring Australia’s situation and response, ramping up preparedness activities immediately. Some of these efforts were shared during a recent symposium hosted by the Center for the Ecology of Infectious Disease at the University of Georgia, sponsored in part by the Swine Health Information Center.
JEV Symposium: Australian Experience Informs US Preparedness
The 2022 Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) outbreak in Australia continues to be at the forefront of producers’ minds there and attract attention from around the world. As stakeholders in Australia assess what they know and what they are continuing to learn about the outbreak, international observers are addressing the potential for JEV to be discovered in currently naïve countries, bringing with it challenges to human and animal health. These topics, and others, were the focus of a recent symposium hosted by the Center for the Ecology of Infectious Disease at the University of Georgia, sponsored in part by the Swine Health Information Center. A total 156 people registered to attend the symposium (27 in-person and 129 virtual attendees) from Australia, Canada, France, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, and across the US. Of those, 30 were persons with USDA-affiliated agencies.
SHIC Notes CSF and ASF Ruled Out in Ecuador
Following report of an undiagnosed swine disease in Ecuador, ProMED, a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, published a report stating CSF had been ruled out in the Esmeraldas province after the disease alert was raised on September 7, 2022. In a clarification published subsequently, ProMed reported the samples collected from their unknown disease outbreak are negative for ASF as well. More information SHIC has been able to gather gives added confidence to the report by ProMed.
SHIC’s Domestic Swine Disease Monitoring Report Renewed for 2023
Since March 2018, SHIC’s Domestic Swine Disease Monitoring Report has been published monthly on its website and in its newsletter. Funded by SHIC and produced by the Swine Disease Reporting System team, the report provides real-time updates on megatrends of disease agent activity over time, age group, specimen, and states using data from five midwestern VDLs. During their October board meeting, the SHIC Board of Directors voted to continue funding the program for 2023.
SHIC Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program RFPs Released
SHIC, along with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research and Pork Checkoff, joined together to fund a Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program to be implemented over the next two years. Proposals to investigate cost-effective, innovative technologies, protocols, or ideas to implement biosecurity during the wean-to-harvest phase of production are now being sought. Proactively enhancing wean-to-harvest biosecurity will help control the next emerging disease in the US pork industry and improve US swine herd health, all part of SHIC’s mission including analysis of swine health data and targeted research to benefit the US pork industry.
CE: SHIC Sponsoring JEV Symposium – Australian Lessons Learned and US Prevention and Planning
The symposium Japanese Encephalitis Virus: Emerging Global Threat to Humans and Livestock will be held October 17-19, 2022 in the Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases at the University of Georgia. Sponsored in part by SHIC, the symposium is dedicated to furthering understanding of the current JEV outbreak in Australia, and JEV’s potential for global impact on human and domestic animal populations.
Survey Highlights Value of SHIC Disease Monitoring Reports to Swine Industry
This summer, SHIC requested industry input about usefulness and enhancements to the Swine Health Information Center’s monthly domestic and global swine disease monitoring reports. Comments and responses to the SHIC survey highlight the broad value and diverse ways in which reports are utilized. Made available through the SHIC e-newsletter and website, the survey covered both SHIC’s domestic and global reports, including questions on value, actionable content, use of data, additional pathogens, and opportunities for improvement.