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Check Out the SHIC Rapid Response Corps Training Now Live Online

September 13, 2017 — Paul Sundberg

Memories of PEDv are never far from pork industry stakeholders' minds. Anticipating another novel or transboundary disease will someday strike, the Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) took on creation of a Rapid Response Program including the infrastructure ability to respond to an outbreak from a known or unknown etiology. SHIC funded a proposal from Iowa State University to develop the Rapid Response Program including creation of a Rapid Response Corps, a team of skilled and purposefully trained persons.

Training for Corps members is now available online here. While Corps members will be required to participate in the online training, it is open to all who are interested in the Rapid Response Program or wish to grow their knowledge of epidemiological investigation and processes. The objective of the newly available training program is to standardize the conduct of epidemiological investigations conducted by the Rapid Response Corps in the event of a swine disease outbreak. There are four training modules and a short quiz is provided at the end of each module to assess content understanding by the participant.

Quick response in the event of a new incident requires collaboration, training, and willingness to participate in the process. Corps members have been identified through nomination and recruited to join the Rapid Response Program. The Corps will consist of veterinarians, state and federal animal health officials, diagnosticians, virologists, and epidemiologists.

When a disease investigation is requested by a producer or veterinarian, SHIC will coordinate engaging Rapid Response Corps members in the appropriate region. Within 72 hours of notification, a Rapid Response Team will be able to be on site to conduct the epidemiological investigation in cooperation with the producer and veterinarian. SHIC has a cooperative agreement with USDA to help fund the Rapid Response Corps investigations.

Funded by America's pork producers to protect and enhance the health of the US swine herd, the Swine Health Information Center focuses its efforts on prevention, preparedness, and response. As a conduit of information and research, SHIC encourages sharing of its publications and research for the benefit of swine health. Forward, reprint, and quote SHIC material freely. For more information, visit http://www.swinehealth.org or contact Dr. Paul Sundberg at psundberg@swinehealth.org.

Paul Sundberg, Executive Director, Swine Health Information Center