Latest News From Hog Health

As a foreign animal disease threat in the U.S. lingers, what protocols and prodecures do producers follow should a worse-case scenario occur?

Getting the most out of the nutrients in feed is more important than ever. “We know mycotoxins can limit that,” Paige Gott of DSM says.

Herd health is a constant worry for pork producers, especially with increasing restrictions. Recent improvements in biosecurity can help, but breeding for disease resilience offers a vital, complementary approach.

Walking on pins and needles. That’s what U.S. pork producers are doing with no way to anticipate when or if a foreign animal disease (FAD) will enter the country.

Several factors have shrunk the U.S. swine herd and slowed expansion.

PRRS. PED. African swine fever. Biosecurity. As the list of concerns for pork producers continues to grow, Dr. Lauren Glowzenski shares her veterinary perspective on current disease trends and biosecurity issues.

From PPRS to PEDV, the health challenges facing swine farms today aren't going away. We asked four veterinarians to share their perspectives, including what pork producers need to pay special attention to now.

Find out what new products companies will unveil during the upcoming World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 8-10.

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will host a virtual Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Workshop on Aug. 30 to update stakeholders and renew action on the topic.

Vietnam leaders say they are hopeful that they will successfully produce a vaccine to administer to pigs to fight African swine fever.

In late July 2021, the presence of African swine fever (ASF) was confirmed in the Dominican Republic. This follows a previous outbreak in the early 1980s that resulted in a slaughter of the entire swine population.

Kansas State University's animal science students were recognized for scholastic achievement, research and teaching with the Larry Corah Graduate Student Award.

The Domestic Swine Disease Reporting System will add porcine circovirus type 2 to its list of endemic and emerging diseases to watch in the U.S. swine herd.

USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture announced an investment of more than $5 million to mitigate antimicrobial resistance across the food chain.

A case of African swine fever was detected on a farm containing around 1,500 animals in South Korea's northeastern county of Hongcheon. Another case was discovered on a farm in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany,

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Veterinary Services is adding Nepal to the list of countries considered affected by African swine fever.

Dr. Joan Arnoldi, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's first female female Deputy Administrator and Chief Veterinary Officer of the United States, passed away on May 10.

Dr. Max Rodibaugh, 69, passed away on Thursday, May 19, at his home in Frankfort, Ind., surrounded by his wife and children. He will long be remembered for his contributions to the swine industry and its people.

Protecting herd health is a priority for pork producers, but despite scientific advances and improved biosecurity measures, disease prevention, as well as timely detection and mitigation, remain constant concerns.

Nepal has reported its first cases of African swine fever, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Thursday.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus opened a lot of eyes in 2013 as the disease devastated many pork operations. Lessons learned from the introduction of PEDV have helped direct investments in research in the industry.

South Korea plans to increase quarantine efforts at major airports and harbors to prevent the deadly African swine fever virus and other contagious foreign animal diseases from entering the country.

Proper temperature control in the barn starts with proper ventilation. To keep pigs healthy and prevent heat stress that can impact health and performance, Mark Oberreuter, AP ventilation expert, recommends these tips.

A North Carolina State University study examined relationships among birth characteristics, early nursing behaviors and colostrum consumption in over 600 piglets by measuring their immunocrits 36 hours after farrowing.

The National Pork Producers Council is submitting comments on the EPA's toxicological review of formaldehyde, which is used to prevent Salmonella infections in pigs and as a disinfectant, among other things. 

Italy will launch a cull of wild boars around Rome after African swine fever was found in one of the thousands that live in the Italian capital and the surrounding countryside.

Thousands of pigs died after barns lost power during a severe April storm near Kola, Manitoba. 

A dead wild boar was discovered in Italy's capital Rome and tested positive for African swine fever, the regional government said on Thursday.

A strep bacteria, commonly found in horses, was isolated from two cases in Ohio and Tennessee in 2019. In 2021, an Indiana system experienced increased sow death loss. SHIC funded a comparison of the outbreak isolates.

It wasn’t an easy path – nor was it a straight path, says Merck Animal Health’s Rika Jolie. When she packed up and left her entire world behind in Belgium to follow her dream to study in the U.S., it was a risk.

At the end of 2020 and in 2021, the swine industry witnessed massive PRRS outbreaks in the Midwest caused by the novel porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) variant, L1C-1-4-4. 

The Maschhoffs has investigated possible causes of piglet and growing pig scours, highlighting the need for a more holistic approach to address enteric challenges beyond a pathogen and antimicrobial treatment strategy.

For years, Carissa Odland, DVM, has been fascinated by antimicrobial resistance in swine and how it connects to animal welfare and the sustainability of pork operations. Odland says more work is needed to help producers.

Many producers are considering filtration to limit PRRS breaks, but there has been much debate over the best method for achieving it. Positive and negative pressure filtration systems each have benefits and challenges.

A vaccine candidate for African swine fever passed an important safety test required for regulatory approval, moving the vaccine one step closer to commercial availability, say USDA scientists.

Max Rodibaugh, DVM, is the sixth recipient of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians Foundation's Heritage Award for his outstanding achievements in swine veterinary medicine.

World-renowned ASF researcher Douglas Gladue of USDA's ARS will be recognized by the Arthur S. Flemming Commission for his outstanding service in the field of science.

According to the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System data collected in 2019, the majority of Salmonella isolates collected from humans were not resistant to any of the antimicrobials tested under NARMS.

Experts say Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) will impact Australia's pork supply as there are now 30 infected piggeries in New South Wales experiencing production losses of up to 80%.

About 500 rural counties in the U.S. have too few or no veterinarians. The lack poses risks to farming livelihoods and, ultimately, the country's food supply.

Bhutan reported an outbreak of African swine fever on a pig farm near the border with India, the World Organization for Animal Health said.

Rumors of catastrophic PRRS outbreaks continue to shake the pork industry. One farmer told AgriTalk’s Chip Flory that he moved 1,500 pigs in and two-thirds of them were dead within a week due to the PRRS virus.

Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases, IIAD have received $668,166 in funding to address animal disease outbreak response and mitigation.

Pirbright researchers have developed a pig respiratory coronavirus model which will provide understanding in how coronaviruses cause disease and how the immune system responds to them.

Probiotics may not be as beneficial for animal and human health as people think, according to recently published research at Kansas State University. Here's why.

Australian health authorities have detected Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in feral hogs in the Northern Territory.

The labor bottleneck isn’t improving for the U.S. pork industry. As pork prices continue to rise, Nick Giordano, NPPC vice president and counsel for global government affairs, said the solution is simple. 

Why are researchers working on a finding an applicable U.S. case definition for porcine circovirus 3?

Access to livestock drugs through over-the-counter (OTC) channels was curbed considerably starting in 2017. Soon, OTC antibiotics may no longer be available through traditional channels at all.

The U.S. has the necessary components for Japanese encephalitis virus transmission – competent insect vectors and susceptible vertebrate maintenance and amplifying hosts. Here's what you need to know.