Do you know an AASV member whose dedication to the association and the swine industry is worthy of recognition? The AASV Awards Committee requests nominations for the following five awards to be presented at the upcoming AASV annual meeting in Orlando. Nominations are due December 15.
Monthly Archives: October 2014
NC Veterinary Conference – Swine Session
The swine session at the 2014 North Carolina Veterinary Conference will be held 8:30am â 1:30pm Friday October 31st in Room 303 at the Raleigh Convention Center. This yearâs meeting is sponsored by Zoetis and AASV District #2. Information and on-line registration is available at http://ncveterinaryconference.com/ . Click here to see an agenda.
ISU Swine Disease Conference: Early Registration Ends October 31
Early registration for the Iowa State University Swine Disease Conference is about to close. Conference attendees can save up to $50 when they register by Friday, October 31. The conference is scheduled for November 13-14, 2014 in Ames, Iowa.
U.S. Freshman and Sophomore Veterinary Students: Apply for NPIF Veterinary Internship Stipend
The AASV Foundation invites freshman and sophomore veterinary students in the United States to apply for the National Pork Industry Foundation (NPIF) Veterinary Internship Program. Now in its seventh year, the NPIF Internship Stipend enables six students to gain experience in the swine industry via a mentoring program that includes a one-month summer internship with a swine practitioner. Recipients are encouraged to attend the AASV 2015 Annual Meeting and the 2015 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, and must submit a written summary and evaluation of their experiences upon completion of the program. Each of the six selected students receives a stipend of $3300 to defray the cost of participating in the internship. Complete details and the application are available on the AASV Web site at https://www.aasv.org/students/npif.php. Applications are due November 10, 2014. The AASV Student Recruitment Committee coordinates the selection of the grant recipients. Funding for the program is administered by the AASV Foundation.
Position Announcement: Attending Veterinarian
Full-time Attending Veterinarian position in the DC metro area, specifically for the USDA/Agricultural Research Service located in Beltsville, Maryland.
Practitioners: Participate in Pig Power Networking
The 2014 Pig Power Networking event will be held in conjunction with the Iowa State University Swine Disease Conference on Friday, November 14, 2014 from 6:00 to 7:30 am (breakfast 6:00 to 6:30 am). The one-hour session will be a low-key, relaxed way to meet some swine savvy students, potential employees, or future interns! Visit http://www.extension.iastate.edu/registration/events/conferences/swine/pigpower.html for more information regarding the event. Interested practitioners, please contact Chris Sievers (chris19@iastate.edu) prior to Friday, November 7th to register.
Position Announcement: BTW Business Unit Veterinarian
The Maschhoffs, the largest independent pork producer in the U.S., is looking for an Associate Director, BTW Business Unit Veterinarian, located in Carlyle, IL. The position reports to the Director, Health Services Department.
Donors Follow Their Passions in Support of AASV Foundation
Are you wondering what to donate for the AASV Foundation fundraising auction this year? âFollow your passion!â says auction committee chairman Dr Daryl Olsen, setting the theme for the 2015 fundraising activity. Auction donors have taken this advice to heart, as evidenced by the auction contributions already received and posted at www.aasv.org/foundation/2015/auctionlist.php. It’s clear that Green Bay Packers football is the passion of certain “Packers Backers,” while nature photography is the focus of repeat donor Joe Barban’s contributions. JSHAP Editor Dr Judi Bell’s donation reflects her passion for knitting, and AASV District Director Dr Bill Starke’s donation suggests an interest in artistic porcine puzzles. So what is YOUR passion? Whatever it is, let it guide and inspire you to make a contribution to the AASV Foundation Auction this year! Dr Olsen and his committee are confident this will be the key to a successful fundraising activity in 2015.
“Establishment of Serological Herd Profiles for Zoonoses and Production Diseases in Pigs by “”Meat Juice Multi-Serology”””
The most important pork-borne zoonotic diseases in humans such as Salmonelloses and Yersinioses cause only latent infections in pigs. Thus, the infection of pigs does not result in apparent or palpable alterations in the pig carcasses. This is the major reason, why the traditional meat inspection with adspection, palpation and incision is not able to control the food safety risks of today. The objective of this paper is to evaluate a set of serological tests, which provides a classification of pig herds into “zoonoses risk categories” as demanded by EU law and into “herd health risk categories” by using meat juice as diagnostic specimen for ELISA tests. Serological data that were obtained by testing meat juice samples from various pig herds were analyzed as proof of the “meat juice multi-serology” concept. For that, at least 60 meat juice samples from 49 pig herds each were taken between September 2010 and March 2011 and tested for antibodies against zoonotic pathogens (Salmonella spp., Trichinella spp., Yersinia enterocolitica and Toxoplasma gondii) and against pathogens causing production diseases (Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, influenza A virus subtype H1N1, influenza A virus subtype H3N2 and PRRSV). Apparent and true animal prevalence, herd prevalence values and intra-herd seroprevalence values as well as the predictive values for the herd and the animal prevalence values were calculated for each pathogen and each of the 49 randomly selected herds. The herd seroprevalence values (one seropositive sample per herd determined a “positive herd”) for Y. enterocolitica, Salmonella spp., T. gondii, M. hyopneumoniae and PRRSV were higher than 80%, respectively, for the influenza A viruses between 60% and 14% and for Trichinella spp. 0%. Although all herds were located in the same area in the Northwest of Germany within a radius of 250 km, the intra-herd seroprevalence values for all tested pathogens, except for Trichinella spp., varied remarkably from herd to herd. In the case of Y. enterocolitica and T. gondii the intra-herd seroprevalence values varied even from zero to 100%. This shows that a serological risk categorization of pig herds regarding zoonoses and production diseases is meaningful if used for risk-based decisions in the framework of the new meat inspection concept and as part of the herd health management system. Thus, the development of a cost-efficient, time- and labour-saving test system for simultaneously detecting various antibodies should be the next step for an extensive implementation of the meat juice multi-serology concept.
Merck introduces PRRS vaccine in the US
Merck Animal Health has introduced a vaccine for reducing clinical signs linked to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRS). Source: Merck Press Release