SHIC Updates Getah Virus Fact Sheet and Revises Template

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) has updated its Fact Sheet on Getah virus (GETV). The updated GETV Fact Sheet contains details about this viral disease gleaned from a comprehensive literature review of the latest research. In the improved literature review portion of the Fact Sheet, in addition to sections on etiology, cleaning and disinfection, epidemiology, transmission, pathogenesis, diagnosis immunity, prevention, and gaps in preparedness, new sections on importance, public health, infection in swine, treatment, and history in swine have been added. As part of its mission to monitor emerging swine diseases, SHIC Fact Sheets like this one are reviewed annually and updated as needed.  

GETV is found throughout Eurasia. It has been mostly associated with outbreaks in horses, particularly in Japan. However, GETV is also known to cause disease in neonatal pigs and fetal death in pregnant sows. GETV mutates rapidly, and it is transmitted by different mosquito species whose distribution is ever changing. A better understanding of the epidemiology of GETV in pigs is needed to prepare for future outbreaks.

In the new GETV Fact Sheet, additional information is incorporated as part of a Fact Sheet template update. Fact Sheets continue to begin with a summary section for easy access to the most important information. But the comprehensive literature review process and insertion of additional information into the fact sheets results in more complete information on the emerging swine disease. The order of those sections was changed to be more intuitive: