Keeping one step ahead of the health of the U.S. swine herd is no easy task. Anna Forseth, DVM, National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) director of animal health, says developing a highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) response plan for the swine industry and establishing the National Swine Health Strategy have been two major priorities this year.
H5N1 Response Plan
“We’ve been watching the devastation of H5N1 in the poultry sector, and more recently, the detection of H5N1 in the dairy industry,” Forseth says. “And all the while thinking, how might this impact the swine industry should we get a detection, especially in the commercial swine sector?”
The differing responses in the poultry and dairy industries to the same virus have a lot to do with how the virus is regulated for those two different species. There are attributes of the response in both sectors that just would not work well in the swine industry, she explains.
The U.S. swine industry convened a small group of the national organizations, state veterinarians, state associations and producers to draft a guidance response plan should the H5N1 virus get into the commercial swine herd. Forseth says the focus of this guidance is really on business continuity opportunities.
“Let’s use the example of a sow farm. If a sow farm were to get infected with H5N1, especially in the absence of a vaccine, it would be really challenging to eradicate the virus in the short term,” Forseth says. “What can be done to allow for those pigs to be weaned from that farm until that farm can get to a point where they’re stable or eradicate the virus?”
She says much of the plan focuses on sidebars like increased biosecurity, movement controls and surveillance to try to reduce the risk that they’ll continue to spread the virus, but still allows them to move pigs off that farm.
The response plan was submitted to USDA in late January. USDA is also working on their own guidance response plan, she notes.
“We have been in conversation with USDA about what a potential response may look like,” Forseth says. “I think over the next few months we’ll have some additional conversations where we can address areas of the plans that don’t necessarily match right now.”
National Swine Health Strategy
African swine fever prevention and preparedness efforts have been a focus for several years now. Forseth says the pork industry decided it was time to revisit priorities to ensure they best fit the current situation.
“We decided we should expand the scope,” she says. “Initially we were planning to expand it to the other two foreign swine diseases. But given the feedback we’ve received from producers over the last two years, with a lot of emphasis on endemic diseases, we decided to initiate the development of a National Swine Health Strategy.”
The strategy is being led by the National Pork Board. During the next few months, Forseth says they will talk with producers and ask a simple question: What are your current challenges or concerns?
“We are asking them to provide one to three examples,” she says. “Then, they have an opportunity to expand on how they think we as national organizations, research institutions, state associations, etc. could help them address those challenges.”
An industry advisory group will come together later this summer to compile and evaluate the feedback and then redefine or establish a new set of priorities. Forseth says she expects they will be a combination of endemic health challenges and foreign disease priorities.
“There’s also a possibility that there are some priorities that don’t have anything to do with disease,” she points out. “Specifically, we might talk about nutrition, biotech or labor. We’ll see what comes out of some of those listening sessions and a producer survey that will be out for the next several weeks.”
At the end of the day, the National Swine Health Strategy is meant to reestablish swine health priorities that will be shared more broadly.
“It’s not just going to be kept with the national organizations,” Forseth says. “We’ll share it with academic institutions, with USDA Agricultural Research Service, and really any other entity that works in the area of swine health. The goal is for everyone to be focusing on the producers’ needs.”
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