Category Archives: Animal Health

Building capacity for disease response means an outbreak has happened and a response is needed. How about stopping the outbreak from happening? One of the goals of the Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Program (MSHMP), partially funded by the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), is to make real-time farm-level risk predictions for porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) and porcine reproductive and respiratory virus (PRRSv). Making the predictions two weeks in advance allows production systems to take actions to prevent or mitigate the impact of a disease outbreak.

The National Pork Board (NPB) and Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) are funding a 12-month long project, with the collaboration of the National Pork Producers Council and the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, to identify gaps in U.S. pork industry national biosecurity. The goal is to prevent entry of foreign animal disease (FAD) into the country by addressing the identified biosecurity gaps. The National Swine Disease Council (NSDC) represents all of these organizations collectively and provides oversight to the project. Following a competitive proposal process, the NSDC awarded EpiX Analytics of Fort Collins, Colorado, with the project.

The Swine Health Information Center’s (SHIC) July Domestic Swine Disease Monitoring Report is available. In the July Domestic Swine Disease Monitoring Report, we learn porcine reproductive and respiratory (PRRS) virus cases dropped in June compared to May. Overall detection of PRRSV-positive cases was in the upper boundaries of the forecasted levels for the first three weeks of June. The overall percentage of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) RNA-positive cases in June also decreased compared to May and were within expected boundaries of forecasted levels for this time of year. Porcine delta coronoavirus (PDCoV) cases were just slightly lower in June compared to May and there was one positive case of TGEV RNA in June 2020. Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae-positive cases in June were within the forecasted levels for this time of year.

Cases of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) continue to be diagnosed in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, primarily on equine premises. Access current situation reports from USDA-APHIS her.

The Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Program MSHMP, partially funded by the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), continues to expand its capacity and, as a result, delivers more and higher quality information on pathogen activity in US swine herds. Recent MSHMP capacity expansion improves and enlarges the program’s ability to collect and report pathogen data from an increasing number of volunteer cooperators. Their goal is having the capacity to manage data from as many producers as are willing to participate. Sow data is now being complemented with growing pig site information from participants. Presently, a total of 922 growing pig sites in seven states are included in MSHMP databases. These sites include the production flow of 68 sow farms (252,900 sows). More growth with additional growing pig site inclusion is anticipated soon.

Significant attention is being paid to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week. The study says a Eurasian avian-like H1N1 swine influenza virus with 2009 pandemic genes can facilitate human infection. Animal health experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), pork industry veterinarians and U.S. universities have reviewed the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and agree the study has scientific rigor. However, it does not contain important context essential for complete understanding of the present situation overseas nor the potential threat to the U.S. swine herd and consumers.

Now in its fifth year, the Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Project (MSHMP) continues to monitor trends in pathogen incidence and prevalence. The basis of MSHMP is that production companies and veterinarians work collaboratively and voluntarily to report weekly disease status, farm location, and other farm data to advance preparedness for endemic and emerging diseases. This project, funded in part by the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), continues to grow in scope and capability. In the most recent report provided to SHIC, project coordinator Cesar Corzo, DVM, MSc, PhD, of the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, says system capacity building, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSv) sequence monitoring, as well as overall swine industry representation, and connectedness have advanced.

Prior to September and October 2019, no high mortality events due to Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus) in swine had been reported in the US. Then outbreaks in Ohio and Tennessee at that time saw mortality up to 50% due to S. zooepidemicus septicemia in those cases. While no additional outbreaks have been diagnosed domestically since last fall, the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) saw a need for more information on this high mortality disease. Consequently, SHIC funded a project conducted by researchers from Iowa State University and the National Veterinary Services Laboratory for a genomic epidemiological analysis on the limited occurrence. The study revealed eight isolates were clustered together with a strain causing outbreaks with high mortality elsewhere. This preparedness project equips the US swine industry with needed detail should another S. zooepidemicus outbreak occur and has implications for understanding, tracking, and possibly preventing related diseases as well.

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) funds the Domestic Swine Disease Monitoring Report (DSDMR), a collaborative project among multiple veterinary diagnostic labs (VDLs), to aggregate swine diagnostic data. Prepared by Drs. Daniel Linhares and Giovani Trevisan at Iowa State University, the DSDMR describes dynamics of pathogen detection by VDL-performed assays over time, specimen, age group, and geographical area. Data included is from the Iowa State University VDL, South Dakota State University ADRDL, University of Minnesota VDL, and Kansas State University VDL. Beginning in June 2020, there is a new element included in the DSDMR – specific state-by-state pathogen trends. With this report, veterinarians and producers will know if porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (MHP), or potentially other pathogens are moving up or down in states being analyzed. Identifying these trends is just the first step to further analysis of the data to understand the reasons for the trends and, thus, to help manage them.

Pork producers are being forced to euthanize large, healthy, market-ready hogs because it is not possible to get them harvested/processed due to the significant and on-going reduction in packing plant capacity. Going forward, the packing plants are predicting no more than 90% of their previous capacity as they implement CDC guidelines for worker safety. This has resulted in some producers being forced to make the difficult decision of euthanizing animals due to welfare issues and/or to make room in the production chain for the next pigs. The National Pork Producers Council estimates that millions of pigs will be euthanized to get us through this present and near-future reduction in packing plant capacity. How can we turn this negative into a positive?