Tag: swine

Celebrate our 1,000th blog post and enter our Leman Swine Conference Giveaway

To celebrate our 1,000th blog post we are having a giveaway! Enter to win $200 off the cost of attending the 2026 Allen D. Leman Swine Conference!

Giveaway! Enter to win $200 off your Leman Swine Conference Registration

How to enter:

Your name will be entered once for each follow, sign up, or share between today and June 21; enter up to three times! One winner will be randomly drawn on June 22, 2026 and announced on our LinkedIn page.

University of Minnesota employees and students are not eligible.

Email us at umn.swine.group@gmail.com with any questions.

New World screwworm confirmed in the U.S.—What you should know

On June 3, 2026, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed the detection of a New World screwworm in Texas—the first of its kind in the country.

Officials identified worm larvae in the umbilical area of a 3-week-old calf. To date (6/4/26), there have been no further detections.

NWS is a serious pest that affects livestock, pets, wildlife, and less commonly, people and birds. NWS larvae (maggots) burrow into the flesh of living animals, causing serious damage to livestock and economic losses.

If the presence of screwworm is suspected in samples received at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory locations in St. Paul or Willmar, they will be forwarded to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) within 24 hours for evaluation.

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Is sapovirus the missing piece in the post-weaning diarrhea puzzle?

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, influenza A and post-weaning diarrhea are commonly top of mind when producers and veterinarians think about swine diseases. However, enteric diseases continue to be a significant and costly challenge. When investigating causes of diarrhea, veterinary diagnostic laboratories will test samples based on the most common pathogens for each animal’s age category. This list is extensive, including Rotavirus A, B and C, porcine epidemic diarrhea, porcine deltacoronavirus, Cystoisospora suis, beta-hemolytic E. coli, sapovirus, Clostridium perfringens, Lawsonia intracellularis and Brachyspira.

While these panels are helpful, they do not always solve the puzzle. Pathologists frequently face laboratory results showing the detection of several pathogens in the same case, commonly referred to as “co-infections.” When this happens, the microscopic evaluation of intestinal lesions (histopathology) is the most accessible tool to help determine which pathogens are the real culprits behind the clinical signs. This step is important because pigs can harbor some of these microorganisms in their guts without necessarily being affected by them.

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Diagnostic and pathological characterization of senecavirus A-associated epidemic transient neonatal losses in swine

In this week’s Science Page researchers Eduarda Ribeiro Braga, Emanoelly Machado Sousa da Silva, Anderson Hentz Gris, Jennifer Groeltz-Thrush, and Pablo E. Piñeyro at Iowa State University share new insights into the role of SVA in neonatal mortality.

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What you need to know about pseudorabies

By the University of Minnesota Swine Group

The reporting on April 30, 2026 of pigs positive to pseudorabies in Iowa and Texas is a good reminder that we cannot be complacent when it comes to infectious diseases.

Pseudorabies virus (PRV) causes a devastating clinical picture resembling rabies in young pigs, thus the name. This disease, also known as Aujeszky’s disease, is most severe in piglets, causing high mortality as well as tremors, seizures, paralysis, incoordination and “dog-sitting” signs. As they get older, infected pigs experience respiratory disease with fever, coughing, and pneumonia. In sows, PRV causes abortions and stillbirths and in boars the virus can be shed in semen. PRV transmits primarily by direct contact with secretions of infected pigs but other routes such as exposure to contaminated fomites or aerosols can lead to infection. 

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