Citing its financial losses, Smithfield Foods announced Wednesday that it will delay its plan to phase out gestation stalls for pregnant sows.
Monthly Archives: June 2009
People on the Move: Dr. Chris Rademacher
Dr. Chris Rademacher has been hired as the Production Improvement Director for the Western Operations of Murphy Brown LLC, based in Ames, Iowa. He will assume the position on July 13, and his new responsibilities will include:
Development of a real-time RT-PCR for the Detection of Swine-lineage Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Infections
BACKGROUND: A novel influenza A virus, subtype H1N1 of swine-lineage (H1N1 swl) has transmitted rapidly to many regions of the world with evidence of sustained transmission within some countries. Rapid detection and differentiation from seasonal influenza is essential to instigate appropriate patient and public health management and for disease surveillance. OBJECTIVES: To develop a rapid and sensitive real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rtRT-PCR) for confirmation of H1N1 swl. STUDY DESIGN: A one-step rtRT-PCR approach was employed to target the matrix gene of the novel influenza A/H1N1 swl and validated against a panel of seasonal influenza A (H1N1 and H3N2), swine influenza A/H1N1 and avian influenza A/H5N1 viruses. The assay following validation was then used prospectively to detect H1N1 swl positive specimens from the recent outbreaks in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. RESULTS: The one-step H1N1 swl matrix rtRT-PCR successfully detected H1N1 swl clinical specimens and did not cross-react with seasonal influenza A, subtypes H1N1 and H3N2 viruses and swine influenza A (H1N1). The H1N1 swl matrix assay did cross react with H5N1. The H1N1 swl matrix assay was then compared to two other assays using a dilution series and a panel of untyped influenza A positive clinical samples. These experiments found the assay to have a comparable sensitivity to the established universal influenza A rtRT-PCR and was more sensitive than the H1N1 swl specific assay that targeted the H1 region. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate that the rtRT-PCR is sensitive and should be used alongside existing universal influenza A assays to rapidly detect the novel H1N1 swl virus.
Ohio Legislature to Consider Formation of Livestock Care Board
Two Ohio state Senators, Bob Gibbs (R-Dist. 22) and Jason Wilson (D-Dist. 30), have introduced legislation calling for the formation of the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board.
AASV Holds Summer Conference
The American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) held the 3rd annual Advanced Techniques for Swine Veterinarians conference at the ISU College of Veterinary Medicine on June 22 – 23.
Plans for Producers’ Hog Retirement Program Terminated
A group of U.S. pork producers who proposed the Producer Retirement Program announced Thursday that the sow cull program will not take effect due to a lack of participation.
Call for Submissions: AASV Industrial Partners
The American Association of Swine Veterinarians invites submissions for the Industrial Partners portion of the 41st AASV Annual Meeting, to be held March 6-9, 2010, in Omaha, Nebraska. This is an opportunity for commercial companies to make brief presentations of a technical, educational nature to members of the AASV.
Call for Abstracts: AASV 2010 Research Topics
Plans are underway for the 41st annual meeting of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV), to take place in Omaha, Nebraska on March 6-9, 2010. As part of the meeting, there will be a session highlighting research projects related to swine health and production.
Citation links for JSHAP articles
The online full-text versions of papers from the Journal of Swine Health and Production (beginning with 2005; http://www.aasv.org/shap/issues/) now include a link to download citation information directly into your bibliographic software such as Zotero and Endnote. Look for the RIS icon next to the citation and click the link.
MP3 CD for windshield time
Along with the individual interview podcasts available at http://www.aasv.org/members/only/pod/, AASV members may now download a “disk image” containing all thirty speaker interviews from the 2009 Annual Meeting plus the audio from three keynote lectures and the four “Learning from the Best” speakers in the general sessions — over 12 hours on one CD.