December 2017 SHIC eNewsletter

SHIC’s Initial Near Real-time Global Swine Disease Surveillance System Report Issued

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) announces the first monthly global swine disease surveillance report has been issued. This November 2017 report focuses on a trio of high priority diseases – African Swine Fever, Foot-and-Mouth Disease, and Classical Swine Fever – as the near real-time monitoring system is developed and tested. Subsequent reports, beginning in January, will include information about additional, production-affecting diseases.

From the report:

Two areas of concern show up in this month’s reports. The first is an outbreak of ASF in Belarus. Though reported in the press, there has been no official report of the disease in the interim. The second is a large outbreak in the Tyumen region of Russia. Outbreaks in Siberia have the added concern of moving within the region towards the pig dense areas in China. The borders in this region across Russia, Khazakstan, Mongolia and China are uncontrolled in many areas.

Funded by SHIC, the system was developed at the University of Minnesota using a private-public-academic partnership including collaboration with the USDA/APHIS Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health (USDA-CEAH). This first, near real-time surveillance report was a key priority for SHIC in 2017 and its debut has been anticipated by stakeholders looking for relevant, timely data on global swine diseases.

SHIC encourages feedback on the report. “This is the start of our global near real-time swine disease surveillance reporting,” remarked Dr. Paul Sundberg, executive director of SHIC. “We want to make this informative and useful for producers and veterinarians. Please share your thoughts on content, format, and suggestions to make it better.” Email Dr. Sundberg at [email protected].

While planned to be published monthly, incidents of emerging swine diseases will be communicated immediately, as needed. Experts reviewing the information will use their expertise to score the relevance and importance of each incident to the U.S. pork industry. As conditions may change, so will the relevance scoring.

As part of the ongoing development of the report, collaborators are working on a system to enable individuals to enter their own data and information on international health events that may be considered of interest to US practitioners.

“Having a systematic way to monitor new or emerging diseases around the globe will help keep US pork producers informed of risks. Knowing the changes in risks will spur thinking about how to mitigate them,” remarked Dr. Sundberg.

SHIC Seeks Pork Industry Stakeholders’ Input

Developing 2018 Plan of Work

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) continues to prioritize high-impact, urgent return on investment projects to monitor, predict, prepare, and respond to emerging diseases. As SHIC develops its 2018 Plan of Work, they are inviting stakeholder input into upcoming priorities. Contributions to the conversation are requested by December 15, 2017.

Emerging diseases remain the primary concern for SHIC. These include diseases being introduced into the US, such as Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PED) in 2013, or endemic diseases already present but changed in some manner with significant health and/or profitability impacts, such as Seneca Valley A which emerged in 2015.

In seeking input, SHIC hopes stakeholders will share no-holds-barred desires for the industry. “Think big. Don’t be constrained by difficulty or cost in your visioning,” stated Dr. Paul Sundberg, executive director of SHIC. Out-of-the-ordinary suggestions to benefit the health of the US swine herd are encouraged.
Please provide your input for the SHIC 2018 Plan of Work to Dr. Paul Sundberg. Email [email protected] or call 515-598-4553.

SHIC developed a series of questions to stimulate consideration of projects for their 2018 Plan of Work.

An additional resource for stakeholders can be found in the SHIC 2017 Plan of Work found here. From this plan, several successful projects were launched, including:

SHIC’s 2018 Plan of Work will be set by the organization’s Board of Directors using input from the industry, personal expertise, and appropriate follow-up to the 2017 Plan. The 2018 Plan of Work will be posted on the SHIC website in January.

2017 SHIC Update

As plans for the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) in 2018 are developed, it is helpful to review recent progress and success. With key priorities of monitoring, preparedness, and response, SHIC completed several new projects in 2017 to achieve objectives from the Plan of Work.

Progress on 2017 Plan of Work

Monitoring

Preparedness

Response

Analysis