The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) is watching porcine kobuvirus (PKV) as a possible emerging swine virus posing a valid threat to the US pork industry. Originally detected in 2008 in baby pigs in Hungary, PKV has been detected worldwide including in the US in 2013.

The frequency of swine movement in North America makes the industry vulnerable to disease spread. To explore how modifying movement patterns can reduce disease spread, the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) recently sponsored research at the University of Minnesota (UMN) Department of Veterinary Population Medicine.

Recently updated domestic and global disease monitoring reports have been posted on the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) website. In the domestic report, it was noted there has been a recent increase in cases testing positive for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus by rRT-PCR.

In a recently completed study funded by the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC), Daniel Linhares, DVM, MBA, PhD, from Iowa State University (ISU) and his colleagues reported on the number of production events in facilities of all sizes and production styles that had a direct impact on porcine reproductive and respiratory system (PRRS) outbreaks to help prioritize biosecurity practices. The study also compared biosecurity practices of herds with relatively low or high PRRS incidence within and between production systems.