From ASF to COVID: How NAHLN Protects Animal Agriculture

Jan 17, 2023

The U.S. livestock and food sectors account for more than $150 billion in annual cash receipts. It's no wonder threats of foreign and emerging animal disease outbreaks are increasingly making headlines these days.

Since 2002, the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN), created through the cooperation of the USDA-APHIS Veterinary Service, USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), and the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) has been helping protect these agricultural assets.

NAHLN, a network of federal, state and university-associated veterinary diagnostic laboratories that provide ongoing disease surveillance, responds quickly to disease events; communicates diagnostic outcomes to decision makers; and has the capability and capacity to meet diagnostic needs during animal disease outbreaks, NIFA wrote in its latest update.

Since it started, NAHLN has grown from 12 AAVLD laboratories to 60 AAVLD laboratories throughout the U.S. capable of testing large numbers of samples for specific disease agents.

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Video: What It Takes to Stop African Swine Fever - Dr. Jishu Shi

In this episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, Dr. Jishu Shi, Professor of Vaccine Immunology at Kansas State University, discusses African swine fever prevention and vaccine development. He explains why ASF differs from classical swine fever and swine influenza, how the disease threatens trade and pork production, why immunization safety remains a critical hurdle, and what producers can do now to reduce the risk of introduction. Listen now on all major platforms!

"Before a safe and efficacious vaccine for ASF can be commercialized, what we really have is prevention."

Meet the guest: Dr. Jishu Shi is Professor of Vaccine Immunology and the Dr. Wayne & Hilda Appleton Endowed Professor at Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He directs the Center on Biologics Development and Evaluation and the U.S.-China Center for Animal Health. A veterinarian and vaccine immunologist, Dr. Shi has focused on vaccines for pigs and has worked on African swine fever vaccine development, control, diagnostics, and international training since 2018. Learn more from Dr. Jishu Shi on The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, available on all major platforms.