Swine Farms Vary In Their Risk From Endemic PED

Feb 18, 2022

The researchers analyzed data on PED surveillance collected July 2014-June 2021 from 1,100 breeding farms in 27 states. The data came from the Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Project at the University of Minnesota, and the researchers identified 625 outbreaks at 373 farms during that time.

Kimberly VanderWaal, PhD, who is one of the article authors and an associate professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, said the project tracks PED in about half the U.S. swine breeding population, and about 7% of those sow farms have a PED outbreak in a typical year. The regions with low incidence could move toward eliminating the virus with a concerted industry effort, she said.

Dr. VanderWaal said the research team also has found that, on average, a typical sow farm would have an outbreak about once every 10 years, down from once in 2.5 years early in the virus’s emergence in the U.S.

The Swine Health Information Center funded the research. Dr. Paul Sundberg, executive director of the SHIC, said the biosecurity measures to keep PED off farms are well known.

Click here to see more...

Video: What It Takes to Stop African Swine Fever - Dr. Jishu Shi

In this episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, Dr. Jishu Shi, Professor of Vaccine Immunology at Kansas State University, discusses African swine fever prevention and vaccine development. He explains why ASF differs from classical swine fever and swine influenza, how the disease threatens trade and pork production, why immunization safety remains a critical hurdle, and what producers can do now to reduce the risk of introduction. Listen now on all major platforms!

"Before a safe and efficacious vaccine for ASF can be commercialized, what we really have is prevention."

Meet the guest: Dr. Jishu Shi is Professor of Vaccine Immunology and the Dr. Wayne & Hilda Appleton Endowed Professor at Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He directs the Center on Biologics Development and Evaluation and the U.S.-China Center for Animal Health. A veterinarian and vaccine immunologist, Dr. Shi has focused on vaccines for pigs and has worked on African swine fever vaccine development, control, diagnostics, and international training since 2018. Learn more from Dr. Jishu Shi on The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, available on all major platforms.