Category Archives: Animal Health

Two more fact sheets have been updated in the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) Swine Disease Fact Sheet Library. As part of SHIC’s mission to protect the health of the US swine herd, providing guidance and resources for producers, practitioners, and diagnosticians who are on the front lines of swine health concerns is paramount. Updated fact sheets on porcine teschovirus (PTV) and Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) were recently posted.

The burden of PRRS in the U.S. swine industry continues as the industry faces yearly outbreaks in both breeding and growing pig herds generating frustration among stakeholders. Questions regarding further needs to efficiently control and prevent this virus continue to be raised. Even though current knowledge has clearly proved to have bridged the gap from a prevention and control perspective, the virus continues to strike back. Therefore, conducting a short survey to gather opinions on pieces of information lacking as well as attitudes to control and eliminate the virus are warranted. Please provide your opinion by taking a thirteen-question survey developed by the AASV PRRS Task Force. The PRRS Task Force would like to be inclusive so if you are a practitioner, producer, production director or are in academia, we would like to hear from you. Please share your opinion: Understanding U.S. swine practitioner, producer and production managers attitudes and perceptions in relation to PRRSV control and elimination

The Swine Health Information Center’s (SHIC) July Domestic Swine Disease Monitoring Report is available. This month’s Domestic Swine Disease Monitoring Report shows a moderate decrease on the overall PRRS virus detection. However, detection of the PRRSV RFLP 1-4-4 L1C variant strain continues to be very active in the midwestern region, especially in the wean-to-market age category. A new tool to compare RFLP vs. lineage detections has been launched on the SDRS project website (fieldepi.org/SDRS). A moderate decrease in detection of PDCoV and PEDV was observed in June. In the podcast, SDRS hosts talk with Dr. Montserat Torremorell about her experience on surveillance of Influenza A, her thoughts on the PRRSV RFLP 1-4-4 L1C variant strain epidemic, and how to intervene to improve animal health.

Discovered in 2001, porcine parvovirus 2 (PPV2) is prevalent in swine worldwide. A recently completed Swine Health Information Center (SHIC)-funded research project on PPV2 confirmed the high prevalence of PPV2 in diseased pigs and provided insight into its significance in porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC). Results supported PPV2 as one of the primary viral pathogens in the natural development of PRDC, particularly in weaned to finishing pigs.

Porcine sapelovirus (PSV), an enteric picornavirus of swine, has been detected in healthy pigs as well as pigs with diarrhea, neurological, reproductive, and respiratory disease. An outbreak of polioencephalomyelitis occurred in US swine in 2016, with reported morbidity and case fatality rates of 20% and 30%, respectively. Intravaginal and intrauterine inoculation of gilts at day 30 of gestation leads to 94% fetal mortality. The role of PSV as a pathogen, and more specifically as a cause of polioencephalomyelitis, is unclear. PSV is commonly isolated from the intestinal tract of healthy swine, and it is often found with other enteric pathogens. An updated Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) Fact Sheet on PSV has been posted and includes new information on prevalence and diagnostics, as well a description of an outbreak of PSV-associated polioencephalomyelitis in the US.

Reports of a mystery swine disease in the Dominican Republic were noticed by the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), with the help of the National Pork Producers Council and the US Animal Health Association, in late June this year. Found in local press from the island nation, the description painted a severe picture of unique swine illness. SHIC reached out to USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for more information, concerned about a novel swine disease and its potential impact on the US herd. APHIS in turn contacted international resources for more information. APHIS learned the initial press report was exaggerated and shared this information with SHIC, relieving concern. However, APHIS also reports they will continue to follow the situation until a firm diagnosis is achieved.

During the 2021 World Pork Expo, an emergency PRRS meeting sponsored by NPPC and SHIC was held on June 10 to discuss the current situation related to the new PRRS Lineage 1C 1-4-4 variant. The objectives of the meeting were to continue to raise awareness of the current situation together with share information from monitoring programs, practitioners and producers in an attempt to better understand the magnitude of the outbreaks and work towards understanding how to decrease the rapid transmission of this virus. The agenda for the 2-hour meeting included four speakers whose presentations are summarized below.

A major update of the Swine Health Information Center’s (SHIC’s) porcine kobuvirus (PKV) fact sheet has been posted. PKV, originally detected in baby pigs in Hungary in 2008, is an enteric picornavirus found nearly worldwide in both in healthy pigs and pigs with diarrhea. It was first diagnosed in the US in 2013. PKV infection is most often a mild diarrheal disease with piglets of less than four weeks of age most likely to be infected. Prevalence in domestic pigs ranges from 13 to 99%. In China, PKV was implicated as the cause of diarrhea, dehydration, and vomiting in piglets which resulted in morbidity of 80 to 100% and mortality of 50 to 90%, beginning in 2010. Disease is less common in older animals. The significantly revised PKV fact sheet includes refreshed taxonomy, epidemiology, and diagnostics sections as well as new information on experimental infection. To date, the importance of PKV as a swine pathogen remains unclear.

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) monitors emerging swine disease threats, engaging experts on preparedness, response, and possible actions needed on behalf of the US pork industry. Recently, SHIC inquired with experts regarding a novel rotavirus affecting foals in Kentucky this spring. After consideration, those experts, Drs. Feng Li, University of Kentucky (UK) Gluck Equine Research Center, along with swine experts Albert Rovira, University of Minnesota, Ben Hause, South Dakota State University, and Eric Burrough, Iowa State University, conferred with SHIC and determined there was no need for action as the virus was not a threat to pork production.

The burden of PRRS in the U.S. swine industry continues as the industry faces yearly outbreaks in both breeding and growing pig herds generating frustration among stakeholders. Questions regarding further needs to efficiently control and prevent this virus continue to be raised. Even though current knowledge has clearly proved to have bridged the gap from a prevention and control perspective, the virus continues to strike back. Therefore, conducting a short survey to gather opinions on pieces of information lacking as well as attitudes to control and eliminate the virus are warranted. Please provide your opinion by taking a thirteen-question survey developed by the AASV PRRS Task Force. The PRRS Task Force would like to be inclusive so if you are a practitioner, producer, production director or are in academia, we would like to hear from you. Please share your opinion: Understanding U.S. swine practitioner, producer and production managers attitudes and perceptions in relation to PRRSV control and elimination