From Friday to Sunday, the North American PRRS Symposium will be happening in the InterContinental hotel in Chicago. This annual meeting, held on the first week-end of December in conjunction with the National Swine Improvement Federation, is for scientists, diagnosticians, practitioners and producers who are interested in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), the most costly viral disease to ever face a global swine industry. The meeting is further expanded to include emerging and foreign animal diseases, such as Seneca Valley virus (SVV), porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), porcine circovirus-associated disease (PCVAD), African swine fever virus (ASFV), classical swine fever virus (CSFV), and other high-consequence diseases of swine. Scientific topics include disease control, vaccines, pathogenesis, diagnostics, epidemiology and host genetics. This year meeting is dedicated to our friend and colleague Dr. Bob Morrison. The program of the conference is available online.
From the University of Minnesota, Dr. Montse Torremorell will be moderating a session regarding PRRS on the field whereas Dr. Cesar Corzo, Leman chair in swine health and productivity and Dr. Perle Boyer will be presenting respectively on the Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Program and PRRS genetic resistance: an online class for swine experts.
Concurrently to the North American PRRS Symposium, the Conference for Research Workers in Animal Diseases (CRWAD) will be held from Saturday December 2nd to Tuesday, December 5th at the Marriott in Downtown Chicago. There again, the University of Minnesota and more particularly the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory will be represented with the presentation of Dr. Talita Resende, a PhD candidate under the supervision of Dr. Connie Gebhart and Dr. Fabio Vannucci. Dr. Resende will be presenting on December 4th at 9:15 am on Evaluation of mouse enteroids as a in vitro model for Lawsonia intracellularis infection. Dr. Jorge Garrido from the Torremorell lab will be presenting on Novel approaches for influenza surveillance in swine breeding herds and Dr Robert Valeris-Chacin from the Myco Lab will be giving a talk on Survival analysis of protocols for eradication of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae in swine farms.