I certainly hope you enjoy the first virtual AASV Annual Meeting! Many thanks to the staff and this years’ all-star Planning Committee. The COVID-19 pandemic presented additional challenges, but as usual, our association and its members were able to overcome the obstacles. The AASV Annual Meetings are something I look forward to attending. I find them refreshing and motivating. I will admit there are some components of preparing and traveling that I will not miss, but I will certainly miss seeing all of you! I think we would all benefit from a smile, greeting, or quick conversation with our peers.
You do not need me to remind you what a frustrating year this has been. Our industry was faced with an unforeseeable crisis and we scrambled for solutions. At times, it felt like those solutions arrived at a snail’s pace, but despite the many restrictions placed on us due to the pandemic we continued to move forward. I emailed a few people and asked for their organizations’ accomplishments. I am proud to report that there simply is not enough room in this article to share them all. The collaboration between AASV, National Pork Board (NPB), Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), US Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, academia, our state pork producer associations, and state veterinarians has been unprecedented. It is wonderful to see everyone working together to help with the crisis this pandemic created, and to better prepare us for a foreign animal disease (FAD) introduction. I decided to highlight a few of these accomplishments, but please know the list is not all-inclusive.
In response to the processing disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NPB put together a depopulation task force. They funded a literature review on methods of swine depopulation and to better understand or expand the options available, they funded 11 research projects on the subject. The AASV developed and published several resources for veterinarians including: position statements on Pig Welfare During Stop Movement Situations and Strategies for Responding to Processing Disruption Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. They developed a Farm Crisis Operations Planning Tool which highlights key resources and supplies that may be affected during an emergency and facilitates planning for veterinarians and producers on how to implement emergency operation plans (this tool was co-published with NPB, NPPC, and SHIC). They provided recommendations for euthanasia and depopulation and links to AVMA’s guidelines and flowchart on the subject. They produced a checklist or quick reference for veterinarians tasked with assisting producers with depopulation and offered two webinars on depopulation methods. Resources published by other industry organizations, such as external links on farm security, CO2 planning tools and vaporizer construction, a list of CO2 providers, captive bolt and gunshot fact sheets, a statement from the US Food and Drug Administration on the use of sodium nitrite and methods to alter animal growth, were shared. Both AASV and NPB have a vast array of information on Covid-19 and public health and wellness on their websites. While created and compiled during the Covid-19 market disruption, these resources will also be useful during an FAD outbreak. Take a moment to check them out.
A collaborative effort between AASV, NPB, and Iowa State University is underway to develop and implement national training programs to get personnel ready to respond to an FAD. The SHIC has also had a very productive year. They have validated that oral fluids can be used to identify pseudorabies and differential wild type from vaccine viruses. A SHIC-funded study conducted by Iowa State University showed us the advantages of staged loading in reducing the risk of pathogen introduction into our barns. They have done research in Vietnam to determine if oral fluids can be used for African swine fever (ASF) detection and surveillance and are funding research to improve the detection of low levels of nucleic acid in oral fluid samples. They have evaluated the risk of ASF viral transmission by rodents and determined the time and temperature required for inactivation of ASF virus on livestock trailers. A tremendous amount of information has been provided and more research is underway concerning the risk of FAD introductions through feed ingredients. Suggested ingredient holding times have been published and potential additives evaluated. The NPB and SHIC are funding a project, with the collaboration of NPPC and AASV, to identify gaps in US pork industry national biosecurity including evaluating foreign travelers, imports, domestic transportation of animals, and market channels to mention a few.
The list goes on with many more gaps to be addressed and questions to be answered, but we are certainly better prepared today than we were this time last year. If we keep up the pace and continue working together, we will successfully navigate through the obstacles that lie ahead.
Mary Battrell, DVM
AASV President-elect