The recent detection of an H5N1 high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) virus in Newfoundland, Canada represents the first identification of goose/Guangdong/1/96-lineage (Gs/GD/96) H5 HPAI virus in the Americas since June 2015. This is cause for concern for wild birds, zoological collections, and poultry in the Americas. Some east coast states of the United States of America (USA) are home to very large poultry populations that could be at risk of exposure and outbreaks in the next few months. This finding raises concerns about the potential of this virus becoming established in the Americas within migratory and resident birds. [Source: OFFLU 23 December 2021]
Category Archives: Foreign Animal Disease
AABP Have You Herd? Podcast — African Swine Fever
Listen in as AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich has a conversation with American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) Executive Director Dr. Harry Snelson about African Swine Fever (ASF). [Source: AABP}
IDALS: Foreign Animal Disease Stakeholder Focus Groups
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) wants to hear from YOU!
African Swine Fever: Cases Explode in Vietnam, New Case in Germany
African swine fever (ASF) continues to spread widely in Vietnam. Government officials said this outbreak has forced the culling of 230,000 hogs – three times the number of hogs culled in 2020, Reuters reports. [Source: Farm Journal’s Pork 29 November 2021 by Jennifer Shike]
SHIC-Funded Study Evaluated Soy Importation Data
Soy-based products, including components of swine diets, can harbor and transmit viruses. The related viable risk to US swine herds prompted a Swine Health Information Center-funded project designed to evaluate US soy imports as a whole. This includes imports from foreign animal disease positive (FAD-positive) countries. The goal of the research, led by Allison Blomme, Dr. Chad Paulk, and the Feed Safety Team at Kansas State University, was to determine which products are being imported in the highest quantities and observe potential trends in imports from FAD-positive countries. Understanding the sources and intended uses of products being imported to the US is vital to determining the risk of FAD disease introduction.
K-State Researcher Continues Efforts to Halt Spread of African Swine Fever
Megan Niederwerder, assistant professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University, will lead a new $513,000 research project to characterize African swine fever virus survival and transmission after introduction onto a farm. She will serve as the principal investigator on the two-year grant award from the National Pork Board and the state of Kansas National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility Fund. [Source: KState 16 November 2021]
More SHIC-Funded Vietnam ASF Research Results Reported
A 2019 grant from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service division, awarded to the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) who applied with National Pork Producers Council assistance, funded multi-phase African swine fever (ASF) field projects in Vietnam. One completed study evaluated the performance of ASF serum and/or oral fluid ELISAs for use in the surveillance and monitoring of ASF outbreaks in commercial farms in Vietnam and in preparation for the virus becoming endemic in the US. This study shows there is no single best diagnostic approach for ASFV surveillance and demonstrates that the combined use of the Tetracore qPCR and indirect ELISA tests and serum/oral fluid sampling increase efficiency of ASF disease surveillance. Another completed study modeled the risk of introducing ASF to a sow farm as a result of semen movement from apparently healthy boar studs located in an ASF disease control area. Results indicated the risk is negligible to low given study parameters, however, several factors with the potential to impact these results were acknowledged.
SHIC: Newly Discovered Low Virulent, Genotype I, ASF Virus Causing Chronic Infections in China
Recently, Sun et al. (2021) describe in “Genotype I African swine fever viruses emerged in domestic pigs in China and caused chronic infection” the detection of a second African swine fever virus (ASFV) strain present in two Chinese provinces. The ASF viruses described are genotype 1 viruses, distinct from the currently circulating genotype 2 virus Georgia-07 and its derivatives. These virus isolates (hemadsorption negative) are of lower virulence characterized by a chronic disease presentation including necrotic skin lesions and joint swelling. Data presented suggest the viruses are readily transmissible to contact animals. Notably, pigs infected with these viruses could easily be missed early in a disease outbreak due to their reduced virulence. However, current diagnostic tools PCR (p72-based) or serologic (ELISA-based) should be adequate for detection of infected animals [Sun et al., 2021]. Given their reduced virulence and transmissibility characteristics, it is reasonable to assume these viruses also may be present in other regions of China and Southeast Asia.
Canada Increases Efforts to Keep African Swine Fever Out
The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing nearly $3 million in new initiatives to enhance biosecurity and support the provincial pork sector’s African swine fever (ASF) prevention and emergency preparedness effort. [Source: Farm Journal’s Pork 25 October 2021, by Jennifer Shike]
Develop and Refine ASF Surveillance Protocols
Swine industries around the world continue to struggle containing and eliminating African swine fever (ASF). Haiti and the Dominican Republic are the latest countries to fall victim to this devastating, infectious disease of pigs that results in high mortality. [Source: Farm Journal’s Pork 13 October 2021]