Category Archives: Animal Health

The Swine Health Information Center’s (SHIC) May Domestic Swine Disease Monitoring Report is available.

From early 2017 to early 2019, Dr. Tom Petznick knew his client’s 4500-head farrow-to-wean swine herd had a new disease not previously seen by him or his colleagues. “We did our homework, did diagnostic testing, and found out we had something different here,” he explained. When diagnostics ruled out transboundary and emerging diseases in the herd, staff at the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Lab encouraged additional testing and suggested contacting the Swine Health Information Center to access the SHIC Diagnostic Fee Support program. With the additional funding and continued scrutiny, porcine sapovirus was discovered.

The Swine Health Information Center received research proposals in response to a now closed call for a second round of submissions related to its Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program. The program’s objective is to investigate cost-effective and innovative technologies, protocols, or ideas to enhance biosecurity during the wean-to-harvest phases of pig production. Researchable priorities of this call included personnel biocontainment and bioexclusion, mortality management, efficiencies and alternatives to truck washing, and packing plant biocontainment.

A Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea elimination plan for has been developed for Manitoba. The Future of PED Working Group, set up in response to a major outbreak in 2021-2022, to look at PED management strategies including what was working and what needed to change, has created a PED elimination plan for Manitoba. Jenelle Hamblin, the Director of Swine Health with Manitoba Pork, told those on hand last week in Winnipeg for Manitoba Pork’s 2023 Annual General Meeting there’s been a continuous decline in cases of PED from the 2021-2022 outbreak.

The deadline for the second round of research proposals for the Swine Health Information Center’s Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program is April 28, 2023. SHIC is seeking research proposals to investigate cost-effective and innovative technologies, protocols, or ideas to enhance biosecurity during the wean-to-harvest phases of pig production. Funding for the selected proposals will be provided by SHIC, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, and Pork Checkoff.

Brucellosis is a complicated and profoundly destructive disease. The bacterium has a myriad of species that can infect different animal populations, both domestic and wild, with many of the Brucella species capable of spreading to humans. It can also be hard to identify clinically as, in the absence of abortions or stillbirths, the disease causes no distinct clinical signs.

The February 2022 outbreak of Japanese encephalitis virus in Australia spurred action by animal and public health officials around the world. In the US, the pork industry began monitoring Australia’s situation and response, ramping up prevention and preparedness activities immediately. The Swine Health Information Center, along with industry partners, compiled a comprehensive list of research gaps to facilitate next steps in the ongoing efforts towards reducing the risk of JEV introduction and spread, understanding JEV’s impact on production, and investigating how on-farm factors influence JEV transmission.

Consistent with the Swine Health Information Center’s mission to protect and enhance the health of the United States swine herd, it strives to share information and resources with those on the front lines of the swine health battle. At the recent American Association of Swine Veterinarians Annual Meeting, SHIC-funded research and programs were shared to help practitioners serve their producer customers with the latest tools for swine disease prevention, preparedness, and response. This information is also made available through other communications channels.

The Swine Health Information Center’s (SHIC) April Domestic Swine Disease Monitoring Report is available.

The Swine Health Information Center seeks a second round of research proposals to investigate cost-effective and innovative technologies, protocols, or ideas to enhance biosecurity during the wean-to-harvest phase of pig production, due April 28, 2023. Funding for the selected proposals will be provided by SHIC, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, and Pork Checkoff as part of SHIC’s Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program to be implemented over 2023-2024. The first round of proposal solicitation, selection, and funding was completed in February.