MSHMP – Swine in Minnesota

Science Page: Introducing Dr. Cesar Corzo

This is our Friday rubric: every week a new Science Page from the Bob Morrison’s Swine Health Monitoring Project. The previous editions of the science page are available on our website.

Dr. Cesar A Corzo has recently joined the Swine Group at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine as the Allen D. Leman Chair in Swine Health and Productivity.
As the new Leman Chair, Dr. Corzo will focus on leading the Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Project by strengthening the link between producers and research, and support producers to make science-based decisions to improve swine health.

Dr. Corzo’s appointment brings a unique and diverse level of experience to the Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Project. His producer and veterinarian focused approach will help achieve Dr. Bob Morrison’s vision for the project to deliver short term value to producers while strengthening the long term disease preparedness of the swine industry.

Click here to learn more about Dr. Corzo.

Science Page: Use of processing fluids for PRRSV diagnostics

This is our Friday rubric: every week a new Science Page from the Bob Morrison’s Swine Health Monitoring Project. The previous editions of the science page are available on our website.

Key points

Using processing fluids as a diagnostic tool can help us to detect lower PRRS prevalence in the herd.
Testicles and tails should be collected in a pail as they are potential spreaders of PRRS in the farrowing room.
We should target young parity sows for PRRSV sampling.

Processing fluids PRRS table.gif

What are processing fluids?

In sow farms, piglets get processed during the first week of life. This means that their tails is docked and the males are castrated. The farmer usually collect tails and testicles in a pail to be discarded at a later time.

We propose to use the fluids accumulating at the bottom of the pail to assess the farm PRRSV status.

How did we test those fluids?

The fluids were tested for PRRSV by PCR and the results were compared to the gold standard for this diagnostic: PCR on serum. Sampling was set in a farm that just went through a PRRSV outbreak and 10 litters from various parity sows were selected each week for 8 weeks.

What were the results?

Processing fluids were efficient in detecting PRRSV even if there was only one piglet positive in the litter (determined with the serum samples). Compared to the serum tests, there were 4 false negative samples that were explained by the fact that the virus load in the piglets serums was low and the dilution effect of the processing fluids caused the samples to get negative results. We also found 4 false positive resutls that could be due to cross-contamination of the samples despite the extreme care with which the samples were handled.

Are processing fluids a worthwhile sample?

The agreement between processing fluids and serum results was good and the sensitivity and specificity of the technique was respectively of 83% and 92%. Additionally, this technique requires no further handling of the piglets or use of extra supplies to collect samples and submit them to the laboratory.

Science Page: Salmonella antimicrobial resistance and emergence of a new serotype S.4,[5],12:i:-

This is our Friday rubric: every week a new Science Page from the Bob Morrison’s Swine Health Monitoring Project. The previous editions of the science page are available on our website.

Monitoring antimicrobial resistance is a research topic of utmost importance in the swine industry. Dr. Julio Alvarez at the University of Minnesota is leading some of this effort and this week, his team is presenting the latest results regarding Salmonella antimicrobial resistance in the strains isolated by the University of Minnesota – Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory between the years 2006 and 2015 and the emergence of a new serotype S.4,[5],12:i:-

Key Points

Swine is the reservoir most commonly associated with the S.4,[5],12:i: serotype.
The prevalence of S. agona and S. 4,[5],12:i:- in isolates of swine origin recovered from clinical samples received at the Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (MVDL) in 2006-2015 has increased.
In these serotypes an increased proportion of isolates were resistant to ceftiofur and enrofloxacin, compared with other serotypes.
The increase in the frequency of isolation of the S.4,[5],12:i:- serotype in humans may be paralleled by a similar increase in swine clinical samples received in the MVDL.

The information synthesized in the figure below is the evolution, over the years, of the percentages of Salmonella isolated at the UMN – VDL, belonging to each of other the following serotypes: typhimurium, agona, derby, typhymurium var5, and 4,5,12:i:-. The increase in the proportion of S.4,5,12:i:- can be seen starting back in 2011-2012.

Click here to read the full report about Salmonella serotypes isolated at the UMN – VDL

Science Page: Introducing Secure Pork Supply

This is our Friday rubric: every week a new Science Page from the Bob Morrison’s Swine Health Monitoring Project. The previous editions of the science page are available on our website.

This week, we are talking about Secure Pork Supply (SPS).

The goal of SPS is to develop procedures that pork producers, processors, and Federal and State agencies all agree are feasible to allow for the safe movement of animals from farms in an FAD Control Area to harvest channels or other production sites as long as they have no evidence of disease.

Key points

In the event of a foreign animal disease (FAD) outbreak in the U.S., maintaining business continuity for the pork industry is critical for food security and animal health and well-being.
The goal of the Secure Pork Supply (SPS) Plan is to provide a workable business continuity plan.
Having the SPS Plan in place prior to a FAD outbreak will enhance coordination and communication between all parties and speed up a successful FAD response.

Click here to see the full report

Science Page: Leman swine conference – A tribute to Dr. Bob Morrison

This is our Friday rubric: every week a new Science Page from the Bob Morrison’s Swine Health Monitoring Project. The previous editions of the science page are available on our website.

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The Allen D. Leman swine conference starts tomorrow!
This year’s Leman Conference will be a Tribute to Bob and what he did during his career and his continuation of the goals upon which Al Leman first founded the conference.
His drive for holistic improvement rather than individual aggrandizement can be seen reflected in session titles like, “Lesson’s From Dr. Morrison: Focus on Work that Matters”, and “Bob Morrison’s Legacy: Applying a Collaborative Approach in a Competitive Industry”.

Bob pushed himself and those around him to do “work that matters”, display integrity, and focus on the industry as a whole. The Leman Conference is an actualization of these values.

Read the entire tribute here.

Science page: Are patterns of spatiotemporal clustering of PRRSv consistent across years?

This is our Friday rubric: every week a new Science Page from the Bob Morrison’s Swine Health Monitoring Project. The previous editions of the science page are available on our website.

This week, we studied a subset of MSHMP participants located in the Midwest to test if some location/time combinations are more prominent during certain seasons across the years. Data from 358 farms in 10 management systems from 2011 to 2015 was compiled to look for clusters.

The clusters found by the SaTScanTM software are represented below. The red circles represent clusters identified in the time period from January to June, whereas blue ones are July to December. We can note that clusters were identified every year but that they varied with time.

Significant PRRS spatial cluster midwest — Significant spatial clusters for PRRSV in the Midwest between 2011 and 2015.

Key points

PRRS cases are recognized to be seasonal and aggregated by geographical space.
However, spatiotemporal patterns of PRRS clustering were not consistent across years.
Drivers of infection spread may vary over the years.

Future uses for this model can be found in the entire report

Science page: Evaluation of biosecurity measures to prevent indirect transmission of PEDV

This is our Friday rubric: every week a new Science Page from the Bob Morrison’s Swine Health Monitoring Project. The previous editions of the science page are available on our website.

The objective of the study presented today was to evaluate the efficacy of of biosecurity procedures directed at minimizing transmission via personnel following different protocols in controlled experimental settings.

Four (4) groups were housed in different rooms:

INF: Pigs infected with PEDV
LB: Naive pigs which were exposed to personnel coming from the INF room without changing PPE at all
MB: Naive pigs which were exposed to personnel coming from the INF room after washing their hands and face as well as changing footwear and clothing.
HB: Naive pigs which were exposed to personnel coming from the INF room after showering as well as changing clothing and footwear.

Results are shown in the figure below. Naive pigs were exposed to personnel from 44h after the pigs in the INF group were infected with PEDV until 10 days post infection.

PEDV indirect transmission biosecurity measures — Viral shedding of pigs. Movements were terminated at 10 dpi. Data presented are average values of viral RNA copies (± SD) of infected (INF), low biosecurity (LB), medium biosecurity (MB) and high biosecurity (HB) groups

Key points:

PEDV transmission is likely to occur with contaminated fomites in low biosecurity scenarios.
Indirect contact transmission of PEDV can happen very rapidly. Transmission was detected 24h after personnel moved from infected to low biosecurity rooms (no change in clothes, boots or washing hands)
Changing PPE (personal protective equipment) and washing skin exposed areas is beneficial to decrease the risk of PEDV transmission.

Link to the facilities diagram explaining the experiment setup as well as the results on PEDV indirect transmission in this study.