Advocacy in action: Update on committee meetings in San Diego (May 2018)

Fourteen issue-based committees met during the 2018 American Association of Swine Veterinarians’ (AASV) 49th Annual Meeting in San Diego, California. The AASV Board of Directors establishes committees to address specific issues associated with swine veterinary medicine and provide recommendations for actions to the AASV leadership. In addition to being an integral part of the leadership structure within AASV, the committees also serve as a great way for members to participate in developing positions for the association, learn about a particular issue, and meet other members. In 2017, over 215 AASV members volunteered to serve on at least one committee. That’s a lot of experience focused on the issues of swine health, well-being, and production.

The following are some key highlights from the committee meetings:

• The Nutrition Committee discussed the value of keeping all members informed of nutritional information that veterinarians could use on-farm and the need for the continued cooperation of the nutrition and veterinary professions. In addition, the committee discussed the increase in sow mortality and its association with uterine prolapses. The National Pork Board has begun a project to qualify this issue. The committee also began planning for its 2019 nutrition pre-conference workshop.
• The Student Recruitment Committee is requesting funding from the AASV Board to continue hosting, along with the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine’s (ISU CVM) Swine Medicine Education Center and the ISU CVM AASV Student Chapter, the Swine Medicine Talks series. The Swine Medicine Talks is a three-part live-streamed lecture series with expert speakers representing a wide range of topics. They also considered clarifying the defined responsibilities of the AASV Student and Alternate Student Delegates.
• The Boar Stud Committee focused on continuing discussions with the Pig Welfare Committee on the issue of cull boar transport and euthanasia. The committee also discussed the potential impacts of Seneca Valley virus A, porcine circovirus 3, parvovirus, and pestivirus on boar studs. They also considered the need for standards and resources to support show pig studs and began planning for a pre-conference seminar during the 2019 AASV Annual Meeting.
• The Influenza Committee proposes to survey the membership to gain a better understanding of AASV member attitudes regarding the US Department of Agriculture’s Influenza A Virus-Swine (IAV-S) surveillance program, vaccine usage, and influenza risk at fairs and exhibitions. They expressed support for the IAV-S surveillance program and raising awareness about the zoonotic potential of influenza.
• The focus of the Communications Committee during the 2018 Annual Meeting was a proposal to develop an educational training video displaying routine farrowing house practices in Spanish as a tool to assist veterinarians in educating employees. The committee members are interested in further exploring how social media might benefit AASV members.
• The Committee on Transboundary and Emerging Diseases was asked to consider the use of live virus inoculation and whether AASV needed to provide any insight or develop a position on the issue. The committee felt they did not have enough information to offer an opinion on the issue but did suggest that this would be a good topic for either a closed-door session at World Pork Expo or as part of a pre-conference workshop at the 2019 Annual Meeting. The pre-conference seminar might also consider the issue of how to address the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus – eradication, elimination, or endemic classification. They also developed a working group to provide some feedback to USDA regarding the 2020 National Animal Health Monitoring System swine study.
• The Human Health and Safety Committee (HHS) plans to partner with the Influenza Working Group to develop an influenza survey for the AASV membership. The Committee would like to engage the exhibition swine industry to reduce zoonotic influenza A virus transmission. In addition, the HHS committee would like to work with the Pork Safety Committee to produce six short articles (three on zoonotic diseases and three on safety) for the one health corner in AASV e-Letter.
• The Operation Main Street (OMS) Committee noted that the demand for veterinarians as OMS speakers is increasing as OMS expands its reach further into high-level influencer audiences such as human health professionals (nurses and schools of medicine), dietitians, food service, and grocer associations. In addition, it is necessary to reach from coast to coast to influence a large percentage of the US population. Key messages for this year will focus on antibiotic use in food-animal agriculture and addressing the labor shortage in agriculture. Furthermore, a virtual farm tour by video or live stream as a way to deliver information and build trust with key audiences will be combined with select OMS presentations. The AASV OMS Committee will encourage veterinarians to become trained OMS speakers to help fill the demand for highly educated presenters. A special emphasis will be placed on inviting veterinarians from the western third of the United States to deliver west coast presentations.
• The Production Animal Disease Risk Assessment Program (PADRAP) Advisory Committee discussed the shutdown of the PADRAP web site effective July 1, 2018. Dr Holtkamp will make sure that Iowa State University will maintain the database going forward for AASV. They will also maintain the current tool to be available for any member to access it, but the tool will not be in a web application. Requests to access to the database will be considered similar to any other research project proposal. Since the program will be ending, the committee requests the AASV Board sunset the committee.
• The Pharmaceutical Issues Committee continues to work with National Pork Board to update the maximum residue limits for pork exports. The committee is also tracking the progress of Food and Drug Administration-funded projects to establish metrics to measure on-farm antibiotic use. Dr Peter Davies is the principle investigator on a swine project. The committee was also asked to provide input into the development of a preventative use definition for the upcoming G7 Country meeting and a risk assessment on the availability of antibiotics.
• The Pork Safety Committee is designing a survey targeting farrowing house employees to establish a baseline of knowledge for swine veterinarians about current training on needle breakage. New technologies at the packing and processing plants have resulted in the increased detection of smaller gauge needles at market hog harvest. The committee hopes this data will allow the development of better injection management and training of employees. The committee is also reviewing existing fact sheets on hepatitis E virus in swine and its potential impact on human health. They plan to offer any necessary revisions or develop a new fact sheet as appropriate. Salmonella was also a topic of discussion as relates to food-borne illness in humans.
• The newly re-populated Membership Committee met for the first time. This committee is one of only a couple specifically mandated in the AASV by-laws. A group of AASV Past Presidents agreed to participate as members of the committee to be chaired each year by the current past president. The committee offered input in 2017 on the AASV Salary Survey and the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) draft Model Practice Act. During their meeting in San Diego, they concentrated on discussing proposed activities for the association’s 50th anniversary meeting in 2019.
• The AASV Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) Task Force is requesting funding to support a sub-committee meeting to revisit the AASV Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) Herd Classification document. It has been seven years since the document was published. The task force felt very strongly about the need to revisit the guidelines given the advances on PRRSV testing strategies and the wide use of PRRSV vaccination in breeding herds. The current guidelines are at risk of becoming obsolete unless they are updated. The committee also expressed interest in promoting outbreak investigations of PRRSV infections and the creation of a system to generate a database to retain and analyze investigation information.
• The Pig Welfare Committee congratulated Dr Meghann Pierdon on successfully completing the certification examination for the American College of Animal Welfare. Scholarships are available from the AASV Foundation to help offset the cost of getting credentialed and taking the exam. Dr Pairis-Garcia and Dr Madonna Benjamin are in the process of becoming certified. The AVMA is currently reviewing two welfare policy statements, one of which concerns castration of swine. Dr Michelle Sprague is working with AVMA to ensure their policy mirrors that of AASV. The other involves the use of livestock handling tools. Dr Sprague recommends reaffirming this policy as written. The committee reviewed six AASV position statements and reaffirmed three while suggesting minor edits to two others. The Anti-Abuse position statement was modified to more closely align with the Common Swine Industry Audit. The Board of Directors will consider the committee’s recommendations. The committee discussed several topics that may become significant in the future, including space requirements, genetic traits that can impact animal welfare, mortality rates, disposition of runt and blemished pigs, and the use of farrowing crates.

The committees are an integral part of the AASV leadership and we appreciate the efforts of the volunteer members. If you are interested in learning more about the committee activities, visit the committee web pages on the AASV web site (www.aasv.org/members/only/committee/). Contact the committee chair or the AASV office to join a committee.

Harry Snelson, DVM
Director of Communications