Page 114 of articles about swine-diseases

USA - California bill on antibiotic use in livestock defeated

10-Jun-2009
A bill that would have affected the use of antibiotics in livestock has been defeated by the California Senate by a vote of 20-15. The bill would have required all school districts in California to make every effort to purchase poultry and meat products that had not been treated with non-theraputic anitibiotics. The original bill was even tougher. It would have prohibited schools from serving poultry or meat products from animals that had been treated with antibiotics at any time during the life of the animal.

USA - Recent results from studies with H1N1 influenza A virus

02-Jun-2009
Limited cross-reactivity of serum samples from pigs infected U.S swine influenza viruses or vaccinated with commercial vaccines was demonstrated against the new S/O H1N1 influenza virus (A/CA/04/2009) as measured by the standard HI test. The results of this experiment suggest that pre-existing immunity induced by swine influenza viruses circulating in the U.S may not protect pigs against the new S/O H1N1 influenza virus presently circulating in people. Importantly, vaccines currently used to protect pigs in U.S swine operations against swine influenza virus may not be effective against the new S/O H1N1 influenza virus.

North American H1N1 influenza update

The usual pig viruses are H1N1, H3N2 and H1N2. The original H1N1 pig viruses have been largely replaced by poultry viruses in pigs. The H3N2 viruses were from humans originally. The H1N2 viruses are re-assortants from human viruses (H and N genes) and poultry viruses.

Taiwan - Foot and mouth disease: Sub-clinical infection

26-May-2009
In order to ensure the eradication of FMD virus, Chinese Taipei uses non-vaccinated pigs as sentinel animals on every farm. During the routine active surveillance in the livestock market, a pig was found NSP antibody positive. The prefecture animal disease control competent authority traced back to the original farm. The result of clinical investigation showed that all pigs on farm were healthy. Samples for serological tests and virus isolation were collected and sent to the National Laboratory. The laboratory confirmed positive results for NSP and negative for virus isolation. A total of 57 farms within 3-km-radius of the index farm have been under vigilant monitoring and no clinical or serological evidence of infection has been found.

Ireland - Department set to tackle salmonella

20-May-2009
The Department of Agriculture is to launch a new salmonella scheme in a bid to tackle worrying levels of the disease in the national pig herd. The EU average for salmonella taken from lymph node samples is 10.3pc. However, the figure for Ireland stands at between 15 and 20pc. Ireland tops the table when it comes to carcass contamination at slaughter, which stands at 20pc. The EU average is 8.3pc.
circovirosis

Risk and/or triggering factors of porcine circovirus

Between 1995 and 1997, at the beginning of an epizootic called “maladie de l’amagrissement du porcelet” (MAP), it was observed that the farms that were most affected and that had the most losses, generally presented obvious deviations from what we would consider to be a suitable management of the animals and facilities. This is why Dr. François Madec made a list of management practices with the aim of improving the anomalous situation observed.

United Kingdom - New scheme to improve health of pig herds

13-May-2009
A pig health improvement scheme is being rolled out in Yorkshire ahead of other regions after the county's pig farmers joined forces with Yorkshire Forward to tackle disease and welfare issues. It will include the mapping of all pig units in Yorkshire and Humberside and an attempt to determine their health status as well as looking at how disease enters the country and spreads.

FAO - Regional plan for FMD control approved

11-May-2009
International experts on Foot-and-Mouth disease (FMD) have agreed on a plan to control the infection in Western Eurasia and stop it spreading west to Europe and North Africa, following a serious epidemic in several Middle Eastern countries.

FAO urges countries to closely monitor H1N1 in pigs

07-May-2009
After the detection of the A/H1N1 virus in pigs in Canada transmitted by a human, FAO has again urged national authorities and farmers to carefully monitor pigs and investigate any possible occurrences of influenza-like symptoms in domestic animals.