Category Archives: Foreign Animal Disease

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) remains intent on learning everything possible about African swine fever (ASF) management and control. These lessons will be valuable if ASF enters the US and are part of SHIC’s preparedness mission. One of the many research proposals being funded by the USDA FAS grant received by SHIC, or with the cooperation of the National Pork Board in an effort to gain ASF information, is for field evaluation of oral fluids as a convenient, aggregate sample for early detection and surveillance of ASF.

Since African swine fever (ASF) was diagnosed in China in August 2018, veterinarians have been studying the virus’s characteristics and learning how to manage in barns. The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) is monitoring these processes as part of its mission of preparedness for foreign animal disease management for the US national herd. Two US-based practitioners have experience with ASF management practices in China and shared their perspectives with SHIC.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) is offering a free continuing education program for veterinarians licensed in Iowa titled IowaFADefense. The focus of IowaFADefense is to increase the state’s ability to rapidly detect, respond to, and contain foreign animal diseases.

While countries in Europe and Asia have adopted various plans to prevent the introduction of African swine fever (ASF) or contain its spread, a new mathematical model from a team of researchers in the U.K. and Spain has identified two effective tactics. [Source: National Hog Farmer 5 May 2020]

Working with funding provided by the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), Dr. Scott Dee and his team at Pipestone Applied Research have been studying the risk of virus movement in feed. Early work was all completed in the laboratory and confirmed the survivability of porcine epic diarrhea virus (PEDV) in feed as the vehicle for transmission and transport. More recently, Dr. Dee developed a demonstration project to reproduce the results found in lab studies under real world conditions. In the report summary, results indicated the presence of viable porcine reproductive and respiratory virus (PRRSV), Senecavirus A (SVA), and PEDV in both soy products, while viable SVA was recovered from all five tested feed ingredients. In contrast, survival was limited in the vitamins and amino acid ingredients.

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) Global Swine Disease Monitoring Report has provided near real-time information on swine diseases regularly since November 2017, included in SHIC’s monthly enewsletter, posted online on the SHIC website, as well as published using channels available to authors at the University of Minnesota Department of Veterinary Population Medicine. The project created and now maintains a public, private, academic partnership for its reporting. Initial funding for the program will soon end, however, the team at the University of Minnesota VPM is preparing a proposal for continued funding of the project after August 2020. Ideas for improvements to the content or timing of the Global Swine Disease Monitoring Reports and the program itself are welcome. Please email SHIC Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg with your comments.

Read the latest Foreign Animal Disease Preparation Bulletin brought to you by the Pork Checkoff, in collaboration with the National Pork Producers Council, Swine Health Information Center, USDA, and AASV.

Remember to visit the National Pork Board’s African Swine Fever (ASF) website for the most current information on ASF in China and other countries. The website offers information on the outbreak in China and resources for producers and veterinarians to help prevent the spread of ASF in the United States. There are links to Fact Sheets, FAQs, information for consumers and the most up-to-date bulletins.

Pseudorabies virus has been pretty much off the radar since its eradication from U.S. commercial herds in 2004, but COVID-19 is teaching us (again) that the world is small and we are all connected. So a short reminder that PRV is still around may be useful. [Source: National Hog Farmer 7 April 2020]

Read the latest Foreign Animal Disease Preparation Bulletin brought to you by the Pork Checkoff, in collaboration with the National Pork Producers Council, Swine Health Information Center, USDA, and AASV.