The Swine Health Information Center and American Association of Swine Veterinarians webinar series focuses on “industry chatter” relating to swine health. Practitioners may benefit from hearing about how others are dealing with these emerging or difficult-to-manage health issues.
Monthly Archives: August 2020
AASV Office Closed for Labor Day
The AASV office will be closed on Monday September 7 in observance of the Labor Day holiday. The office will re-open on Tuesday morning. We hope you and your family enjoy the end-of-summer holiday and celebrate safely!
Foreign Animal Disease Preparation Bulletin
Read the latest https://mailchi.mp/pork/fad-preparation-bulletin-june-26-952445?e=0dff5b0fab 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.
NPPC Stays Busy with Producers’ Best Interests in Mind
Gene-editing oversight, slimmed down COVID package, swine inspection system and antimicrobial resistance monitoring system are hot topics. There is no rest for the weary, and the National Pork Producers Council has kept busy staying in front of issues that are of concern to American pig farmers. Here’s just an example of what the NPPC is tackling. [Source: National Hog Farmer, NPPC 21 August 2020]
Golfers Support AASV Foundation, Raise $13,850
A beautiful day greeted golfers at the 2020 AASV Foundation Golf Outing, held August 20 at Veenker Memorial Golf Course in Ames, Iowa. Despite changes necessitated by COVID-19, the event benefited from an excellent turnout of golfers and strong support from sponsors, raising $13,850 for the foundation. The winning team, hosted by Pharmgate Animal Health, included two members of last year’s top team: Jeff Okones and Matt Sexton, who were joined this year by Ralph Wilson and Tim Henry. Their overall team score for the best-ball format was 15 under par, 6 strokes ahead of the runners-up: Mark Weaver, Ross Brown, Chris Rademacher, and Chris Sparks, hosted by Cambridge Technologies. The third-place team consisted of 3 individual registrants: Daryl Hammer, Dan Rosener, and Rick Sibbel, who combined their efforts to come in 7 strokes under par.
SHIC Funded Work Assesses Feed-Related Biosecurity in Feed Mills and Farms
Monitoring for Enterobacteriaceae (EBAC) within feed mills is a demonstrated way to predict the risk of Salmonella spp. also being present. Viral pathogens in swine feed are a high interest health issue but there is little information available on how the presence of EBAC correlates with viral pathogen presence, especially on farms or in feed mills. The first step is to evaluate the efficacy of mill or farm level feed biosecurity. The purpose of a study conducted by Kansas State University and funded by the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) was to identify EBAC presence in the feed manufacturing facilities and farms of a multi-farm system. That information was then used as a method of identifying feed-related and other biosecurity gaps in the feed mill and on the farm. Results showed compliance with biosecurity protocols had a substantial impact of EBAC prevalence and distribution throughout the feed mill. The results also emphasize the need for producers to evaluate feed ingredients as potential swine disease vectors, using resources provided by SHIC and industry partners to examine their suitability for use in rations.
Recent Advances in the Diagnosis of Classical Swine Fever and Future Perspectives
Classical swine fever (CSF) is a highly contagious viral disease of pigs, including wild boar. It is regarded as one of the major problems in the pig industry as it is still endemic in many regions of the world and has the potential to cause devastating epidemics, particularly in countries free of the disease. Rapid and reliable diagnosis is of utmost importance in the control of CSF. Since clinical presentations of CSF are highly variable and may be confused with other viral diseases in pigs, laboratory diagnosis is indispensable for an unambiguous diagnosis. On an international level, well-established diagnostic tests of CSF such as virus isolation, fluorescent antibody test (FAT), antigen capture antibody enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), virus neutralization test (VNT), and antibody ELISA have been described in detail in the OIE Terrestrial Manual. However, improved CSF diagnostic methods or alternatives based on modern technologies have been developed in recent years. This review thus presents recent advances in the diagnosis of CSF and future perspectives. Wang L, Madera R, Li Y, McVey D, Drolet B, Shi J. Recent advances in the diagnosis of classical swine fever and future perspectives. Pathogens. 2020 Aug. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9080658
Comparative Pathogenesis of Bovine and Porcine Respiratory Coronaviruses in the Animal Host Species and SARS-CoV-2 in Humans
Discovery of bats with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-related coronaviruses (CoVs) raised the specter of potential future outbreaks of zoonotic SARS-CoV-like disease in humans, which largely went unheeded. Nevertheless, the novel SARS-CoV-2 of bat ancestral origin emerged to infect humans in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and then became a global pandemic. Less than 5 months after its emergence, millions of people worldwide have been infected asymptomatically or symptomatically and at least 360,000 have died. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in severely affected patients includes atypical pneumonia characterized by a dry cough, persistent fever, and progressive dyspnea and hypoxia, sometimes accompanied by diarrhea and often followed by multiple organ failure, especially of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. In this minireview, we focus on two endemic respiratory CoV infections of livestock: bovine coronavirus (BCoV) and porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV). Both animal respiratory CoVs share some common features with SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. BCoV has a broad host range including wild ruminants and a zoonotic potential. BCoV also has a dual tropism for the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. These aspects, their interspecies transmission, and certain factors that impact disease severity in cattle parallel related facets of SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-2 in humans. PRCV has a tissue tropism for the upper and lower respiratory tracts and a cellular tropism for type 1 and 2 pneumocytes in lung but is generally a mild infection unless complicated by other exacerbating factors, such as bacterial or viral coinfections and immunosuppression (corticosteroids). Saif L, Jung K. Comparative pathogenesis of bovine and porcine respiratory coronaviruses in the animal host species and SARS-CoV-2 in humans. J Clin Microbiol. 2020 Jul. https://doi.org/10.1128/jcm.01355-20
SHIC Joins AASV to Host Coccidiosis Webinar on September 3
The Swine Health Information Center and American Association of Swine Veterinarians webinar series focuses on “industry chatter” relating to swine health. Practitioners may benefit from hearing about how others are dealing with these emerging or difficult-to-manage health issues.
HEARD VET: Peer Social Support and Strategy Dialogue Among Swine Veterinarians
Come share how your week has been, get advice if you want it, give advice if you have it, and invest in the strength of yours and othersâ resilience during these challenging times. Join HEARD VET, the free and confidential support meeting for AASV members. (AASV does not know if you attend or not.)