The Allen D. Leman swine conference is only six months away! Our team is preparing an exciting conference program for you this year and we will update you regularly on the speakers and topics that will be covered during this great event bringing science-driven solutions to the complex challenges facing the swine industry. We already shared with you that the recipient of this year’s Science in Practice award is Dr. Bob Thompson.
We are glad to announce that our first key note speaker for the conference will be Gary Louis, Executive Vice President of Seaboard Foods LLC where he is in charge of the live operations. We are delighted that he has accepted our invitation to share his tremendous experience and his vision of the swine production.
More information about the Allen D. Leman swine conference can be found here.
The UMN CVM students did a fantastic job at the 2017 American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) meeting this past weekend. Four students presented their projects as an oral presentation. Zhen Yang, Alyssa Anderson, Hunter Baldry and Chris Deegan were all recognized by a jury for their hard work and commitment to the swine industry.
Taylor Homann, Donna Drebes, and Kevin Gustafson all got the opportunity to present their work as poster presentations.
Lastly, two out of the three awards given by Boehringer Ingelheim to advance the research on swine respiratory pathogens were given to Dr. Marie Culhane and Dr. Carlos Vilalta for their project on swine influenza and Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus (PRRSV) respectively.
This year the Science in Practice award, given by the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine, will be presented to Dr. Bob Thompson, DVM with PIC (Pig Improvement Company).
“Boehringer Ingelheim is pleased to join the University of Minnesota in congratulating Dr. Thompson, an outstanding swine practitioner whose work ensures pig health is a priority from start to finish,” says Lara Sheeley, director of marketing for the BI swine division. “BI is committed to supporting swine industry leaders in their pursuit of knowledge and science to drive innovative solutions.”
The Allen D. Leman Science in Practice Award is given each year at the Allen D. Leman Swine Conference to a swine practitioner who has shown an exceptional ability to utilize science in day to day practice. The swine practitioner who receives the award bears the primary responsibility to move research into the field. Nominations and selection of the winner are governed by the Swine Faculty Planning Committee at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota.
“For more than 20 years this award has honored some of the most accomplished veterinary leaders in the swine industry,” says Bob Morrison, DVM, MBA, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine at the University of Minnesota. “We are excited to partner with Boehringer Ingelheim this year in honoring Dr. Thompson.”
The Science in Practice award reception will take place during the Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, September 16−19, 2017 at the Saint Paul RiverCentre. Visit www.lemanswine.umn.edu for more information and to register for the conference.
The swine group was well represented at the 2017 MVMA meeting. Ms. Alyssa Anderson and Dr. Karine Ludwig Takeuti both gave a presentation on diagnostic tools to detect Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae infections. Drs. Jorge Garrido Mantilla and Fabian Chamba Pardo shared the latest update on swine influenza. Dr. Amy Kinsley explained how the structure of a swine farm can influence disease persistence. Dr. Talita Resende shared the advantages of a fairly recent diagnostic technique: in situ hybridization. Congratulations to Ms. Alyssa Anderson who also received a $5,000 Food Animal Scholarship from the MVM Foundation!
Today, we are very pleased to report that a new indirect ELISA to identify Senecavirus A antibodies has been validated at the University of Minnesota and is now available for our Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory clients. This ELISA targets specifically antibodies against Viral Protein 2 (VP2) and has a sensitivity of 94.2% and a specificity of 89.7%. The test does not cross react with antibodies against Foot-and-Mouth Disease allowing for a quick differentiation between a Senecavirus A outbreak and a costly foreign animal disease.
Fig 1: Different ELISA types (Source: nptel.ac.in)
Abstract
Background: Senecavirus A (SVA), a member of the family Picornaviridae, genus Senecavirus, is a recently identified single-stranded RNA virus closely related to members of the Cardiovirus genus. SVA was originally identified as a cell culture contaminant and was not associated with disease until 2007 when it was first observed in pigs with Idiopathic Vesicular Disease (IVD). Vesicular disease is sporadically observed in swine, is not debilitating, but is significant due to its resemblance to foreign animal diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), whose presence would be economically devastating to the United States. IVD disrupts swine production until foreign animal diseases can be ruled out. Identification and characterization of SVA as a cause of IVD will help to quickly rule out infection by foreign animal diseases.
Methods: We have developed and characterized an indirect ELISA assay to specifically identify serum antibodies to SVA. Viral protein 1, 2 and 3 (VP1, VP2, VP3) were expressed, isolated, and purified from E. coli and used to coat plates for an indirect ELISA. Sera from pigs with and without IVD symptoms as well as a time course following animals from an infected farm, were analyzed to determine the antibody responses to VP1, VP2, and VP3.
Results: Antibody responses to VP2 were higher than VP1 and VP3 and showed high affinity binding on an avidity ELISA. ROC analysis of the SVA VP2 ELISA showed a sensitivity of 94.2% and a specificity of 89.7%. Compared to IFA, the quantitative ELISA showed an 89% agreement in negative samples and positive samples from 4–60 days after appearance of clinical signs. Immune sera positive for FMDV, encephalomyocarditis virus, and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus antibodies did not cross-react.
Conclusions: A simple ELISA based on detection of antibodies to SVA VP2 will help to differentially diagnose IVD due to SVA and rule out the presence of economically devastating foreign animal diseases.
