SHIC’s Initial Near Real-time Global Swine Disease Surveillance System Report Issued

December 6, 2017 — Paul Sundberg

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) announces the first monthly Swine Disease Global Surveillance Report has been issued. This November 2017 report focuses on a trio of high priority diseases - African Swine Fever, Foot-and-Mouth Disease, and Classical Swine Fever - as the near real-time monitoring system is developed and tested. Subsequent reports, beginning in January, will include information about additional, production-affecting diseases.

From the report:
Two areas of concern show up in this month's disease reports. The first is an outbreak of ASF in Belarus. Though reported in the press, there has been no official report of the disease in the interim. The second is a large outbreak of ASF in the Tyumen region of Russia. Outbreaks in Siberia have the added concern of moving within the region towards the pig dense areas in China. The borders in this region across Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China are uncontrolled in many areas.

Funded by SHIC, the system was developed at the University of Minnesota using a private-public-academic partnership including collaboration with the USDA/APHIS Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health (USDA-CEAH). This first, near real-time surveillance report was a key priority for SHIC in 2017 and its debut has been anticipated by stakeholders looking for relevant, timely data on global swine diseases.

SHIC encourages feedback on the report. "This is the start of our global near real-time swine disease surveillance reporting," remarked Dr. Paul Sundberg, executive director of SHIC. "We want to make this informative and useful for producers and veterinarians. Please share your thoughts on content, format, and suggestions to make it better." Email Dr. Sundberg at psundberg@swinehealth.org.

While planned to be published monthly, incidents of emerging swine diseases will be communicated immediately, as needed. Experts reviewing the information will use their expertise to score the relevance and importance of each incident to the U.S. pork industry. As conditions may change, so will the relevance scoring.

As part of the ongoing development of the report, collaborators are working on a system to enable individuals to enter their own data and information on international health events that may be considered of interest to US practitioners.

"Having a systematic way to monitor new or emerging diseases around the globe will help keep US pork producers and veterinarians informed of risks. Knowing the changes in risks will spur thinking about how to mitigate them," remarked Dr. Sundberg.

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.

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Paul Sundberg, Executive Director, Swine Health Information Center