Vesicular disease caused by Senecavirus A (SVA) is clinically indistinguishable from foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and other vesicular diseases of swine. When a vesicle is observed in FMD-free countries, a costly and time-consuming foreign animal disease investigation (FADI) is performed to rule out FMD. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of FADIs and SVA positive samples at slaughter plants in the U.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ability to rapidly detect and report infectious diseases of domestic animals and wildlife is paramount to reducing the size and duration of an outbreak. There is currently a need in the United States livestock industry for a centralized animal disease surveillance platform, capable of collecting, integrating, and analyzing multiple data streams with dissemination to end-users. Such a system would be disease agnostic and establish baseline information on animal health and disease prevalence; it would alert health officials to anomalies potentially indicative of emerging and/or transboundary disease outbreaks, changes in the status of endemic disease, or detection of other causative agents (eg, toxins).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfluenza Other Respir Viruses
December 2013
Background: Understanding the ecology and evolution of influenza A viruses (IAV) in mammalian hosts is critical to reduce disease burden in production animals and lower zoonotic infection risk in humans. Recent advances in influenza surveillance in US swine populations allow for timely epidemiological, phylogenetic, and virological analyses that monitor emergence of novel viruses and assess changes in viral population dynamics.
Methods: To better understand IAV in the North American swine population, we undertook a phylogenetic analysis of 1075 HA, 1049 NA, and 1040 M sequences of IAV isolated from US swine during 2009-2012 through voluntary and anonymous submissions to the US Department of Agriculture IAV swine surveillance system.