Author Archives: AASV Staff

Japanese encephalitis virus, a transboundary emerging disease risk for US introduction, carries with it potential economic implications greater than $500 million per a recent economic assessment white paper (Cook et al., 2024). Transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitos, JEV can cause severe disease in pigs, horses, and humans. While historically endemic to Asian and western Pacific regions, the 2022 JEV outbreak in Australia raised concerns of a renewed threat to the US pig industry and public health.

Global swine disease monitoring identified Japanese encephalitis virus, a transboundary disease transmitted by Culex mosquitos, as an emerging threat to the US swine industry. The 2022 JEV outbreak in Australia heightened the need to define the risk this virus poses to US pork production, informing prevention, preparedness, and response efforts. In 2022, the Swine Health Information Center funded a study led by Dr. Natalia Cernicchiaro, Kansas State University, in collaboration with researchers at the USDA ARS Foreign Arthropod-borne Animal Diseases Research Unit, to update her group’s 2018 qualitative assessment estimating the risk of JEV emergence and subsequent transmission in the continental US. Incorporating the latest scientific information and elements into the new study, the updated semi-quantitative assessment evaluated the risk of JEV introduction into seven US regions, its subsequent spread, and economic impact. Study results found the overall risk, reflecting the rate of introduction and economic impact of a JEV incursion, was non-negligible for the south, west, midwest, and northeast regions.

There has been a recent disease event in dairy cattle with reports of affected herds in several states. Samples submitted from dairy cattle affected with the current disease outbreak were recently confirmed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to have highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). It is too soon to predict if all of the recent reports of unexplained illnesses in dairy cattle in the U.S. are due to HPAI. Veterinarians and the dairy industry are working collaboratively with state and federal officials during the ongoing investigation.