Category Archives: Animal Health

You’ve heard the name before. You’ve seen him or her speak at an industry event. You’ve seen the warnings the office has issued regarding anthrax or bovine tuberculosis outbreaks in the state. But the question remains: How well do you, as a pork producer, know your state veterinarian? [Source: National Hog Farmer 14 April 2019 by Ann Hess]

Streptococcus suis has recently re-emerged as a significant cause of increased mortality in piglets and growing pigs. Non-disease-causing commensal S. suis strains normally reside in the upper respiratory tracts of pigs while pathogenic strains cause meningitis, arthritis, endocarditis, polyserositis and septicemia. S. suis can also act as an opportunistic pathogen, causing respiratory disease in the presence of other bacterial or viral pathogens. Due to differences in the pathogenicity of S. suis strains, diagnosing and selecting the correct strain for vaccine development can be difficult. In addition, multiple pathogenic types exist, and vaccination with one pathogenic strain may not lead to cross-protection for other pathogenic strains. [Source: National Hog Farmer 9 April 2019]

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) April Domestic Swine Disease Monitoring Report features a new online portal for viewing full report dashboards. The new page does not require a log in for viewing report data, providing better access to the information on domestic disease diagnoses. In March, the data showed the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome season has been relatively quiet and is expected to remain so. There were more cases of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus than expected at the end of March. And increased detection resulted in higher than expected incidents of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae..

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is launching a new “Pests and Diseases” webpage. The new page lists all pest and disease programs managed by APHIS as part of its mission to protect American agriculture and natural resources. [Source: APHIS 14 March 2019]

Please be aware there has been a diagnosis of PED virus at the Oklahoma Youth Expo. Several pigs have become ill and we assume most pigs that were at the show or are there now have been exposed. [Source: Oklahoma Pork Council 21 March 2019]

Read the latest Swine Health Information Center ENewsletter. Headlines include:SHIC-funded study offers to predict PEDV outbreaks SHIC reports ASF in Vietnam and seized pork in Taiwan Reminder: declaring farm visits in countries with foreign animal disease to Customs Domestic and global disease monitoring reports

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) collaborated with the Morrison Swine Health Information Project to enable a study applying machine-learning to predict porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PED) outbreaks on sow farms. The researchers were able determine it is possible to predict the probability of an outbreak when considering animal movements and environmental conditions. Another goal was to see if shared producer data could be used to develop critical tools for the prevention of disease spread and implementation of risk mitigation. Further, this work serves as a model for near real-time disease forecasting. The authors hope it will advance disease surveillance and control for endemic swine pathogens in the United States.

North Carolina and Nebraska appear to have distinct clusters of PRRSV 1-7-4 strains. [Source: National Hog Farmer, 5 February 2019, by Giovani Trevisan, Aditi Sharma, Phillip Gauger, Chris Rademacher and Daniel Linhares]

In the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) February Global Swine Disease Monitoring Report, the first porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PED) outbreak in Alberta, Canada, is reported. This report also includes information on the UK African swine fever (ASF) risk assessment process; the review team offers an explanation of the different risk levels in the program. In addition, an ASF outbreak in a second Asian country, Mongolia, was found in the north-central region. The first foot-and-mouth (FMD) outbreaks reported in South Korea and Morocco since March 2018 and November 2015, respectively, are noted. Details of an FMD outbreak in South Africa’s FMD-free zone are also included.

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) 2019 Plan of Work and budget were approved by the Board of Directors on January 25, 2019. “When SHIC was formed, the goal was to develop an entity that helped protect the US pork industry by working in concert with the National Pork Board, National Pork Producers Council, and the American Association of Swine Veterinarians. I am extremely proud that we have not only reached our goals, I believe we have exceeded our goals,” remarked SHIC Board President Dr. Daryl Olsen. Those objectives are captured in the organization’s mission statement: the mission of the Swine Health Information Center is to protect and enhance the health of the United States swine herd through coordinated global disease monitoring, targeted research investments that minimize the impact of future disease threats, and analysis of swine health data.