SHIC Renews Popular Global Swine Disease Monitoring Report

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) Global Swine Disease Monitoring Report facilitates near real-time identification of hazards posing risks to the domestic pork industry. Being able to access accurate and reviewed information quickly is important to producers and the industry as a whole, according to the SHIC Monitoring and Analysis Working Group in their support of continued funding of the program. Compiled by staff at the University of Minnesota, the report is posted on the SHIC website and included its monthly enewsletter, always ranking as one of the most read articles.

University of Minnesota staff involved in Global Swine Disease Monitoring Report development include Dr. Andres Perez, project coordinator, and Dr. Sol Perez, principal investigator. Auguste Brihn also contributes to the process. The expert focus group reviewing the reports includes Drs Jerry Torrison, Montserrat Torremorell, Cesar Corzo, and John Deen along with SHIC Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg. Collaboration and review is also provided by the US Department of Agriculture Veterinary Services Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health. This input is critical to the industry led effort.

Multiple official data sources, including government and international organization websites, and soft data sources like blogs, newspapers, and unstructured electronic information from around the world, are screened, then curated to build a raw repository. The expert focus group then reviews each event, based on novelty, potential direct and indirect financial impacts on the US market, credibility, scale and speed of the outbreak, connectedness, and local capacity to respond average is calculated.

The Global Swine Disease Monitoring Report is one of several essential functions made possible by SHIC to help fulfill its mission, “…to protect and enhance the health of the United States swine herd through coordinated global disease monitoring, targeted research investments that minimize the impact of future disease threats, and analysis of swine health data.”

Funded by America’s pork producers to protect and enhance the health of the US swine herd, the Swine Health Information Center focuses its efforts on prevention, preparedness, and response. As a conduit of information and research, SHIC encourages sharing of its publications and research for the benefit of swine health. Forward, reprint, and quote SHIC material freely. For more information, visit https://www.swinehealth.org or contact Dr. Paul Sundberg at [email protected].