Category Archives: Foreign Animal Disease

In the latest edition of SHIC Talk, SHIC Associate Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder is joined by NPPC Consultant Dr. Liz Wagstrom, AASV Executive Director Dr. Harry Snelson, and NPB Assistant Chief Veterinarian Dr. Patrick Webb, along with host Barbara Campbell Determan, to share an update on African swine fever. SHIC Talk, the podcast produced by the Swine Health Information Center, is available on the Center’s website and most podcast sources. It brings industry experts together to share their knowledge and pertinent information regarding swine health.

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and leaders from the Philippine Department of Agriculture and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture are teaming up on a new project to address challenges related to the deadly African swine fever (ASF) virus. As a top pork exporting nation, an ASF outbreak in the U.S. would cause billions in losses and hinder exports of U.S. pork.

Australia has come under the threat of foot and mouth disease after traces of the disease were detected from goods coming into the country this week.

Rapid and reliable detection of African swine fever virus infected pigs is critical for successful control. One desirable property of a diagnostic test is the capacity to detect viral infection, especially during the incubation time, even before the infected animals may be displaying clinical signs. In this SHIC study conducted in Vietnam using funds from a USDA-Foreign Ag Service grant, three pen-side tests for ASFV detection were evaluated – one PCR test for detection of viral genomic DNA and two lateral flow tests for detection of viral antigens. Results show the PCR pen-side test performed better than the other two options.

Canada has been recognized as a global leader in scientific and technical expertise to address problems relating to African swine fever. The World Organization for Animal Health officially recognized the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg as a WOAH Reference Laboratory to address ASF. There are only six other laboratories in the world with that designation. The CFIA’s Aruna Ambagala was also recognized as Canada’s designated expert for ASF.

Besides the actual depopulation itself, determining how to dispose of carcasses is also a difficult decision.

Scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service (ARS) today announced that a vaccine candidate for African Swine Fever (ASF) passed an important safety test required for regulatory approval, moving the vaccine one step closer to commercial availability.

The COVID-19 pandemic practically halted international air travel for a time. Because international air travel continues to increase, a reminder for continued reporting of traveler experiences while going through customs entering the US is timely. Plus, there have been recent anecdotal reports that some veterinarians are not being diverted to customs agriculture specialists for secondary screening after reporting they have been on farms in other countries.

The seizures of prohibited meat products from China continue at levels never seen before at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport. Just in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022, (October-December 2021) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists intercepted 262,237 pounds (118,949 kilograms) of prohibited pork, chicken, beef and duck products, a 33 percent increase from same period the year before.

Federal agents seized more than 120 pounds of prohibited fresh pork and poultry meat on March 15 at the Laredo Port of Entry in a single enforcement action.