North American Pork Producers Advised to Guard Against Foot and Mouth Disease

Jun 27, 2025

In light of recent outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease in countries that had previously been free of the infection, North American Pork producers are being advised to be watching for signs of the infection and to maintain strict biosecurity.Foot and Mouth Disease is a highly contagious foreign animal disease that affects cloven hooved animals causing significant animal health implications and significant international trade implications.

In April, in response to outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease in countries that had been free of the virus, the Swine Health Information Center and the American Association of Swine veterinarians hosted a Foot and Mouth Disease webinar.SHIC Executive Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder notes the virus was introduced into three European countries in the first half of 2025 that had maintained several decades of a negative status.

Quote-Dr. Megan Niederwerder-Swine Health Information Center:

This included an outbreak in Germany in January, 2025 that primary affected a small herd of water buffalo, an outbreak in Hungary that started in March of 2025 that primarily affected cattle and an outbreak in Slovakia in March of 2025 again primarily affecting cattle.In those three countries it was serotype O.One of the other concerns that has also recently happened is that there has been an introduction of a new FMD serotype, serotype SAT 1 in several middle eastern countries including Iraq, Kuwait and most recently Turkey.

Those countries are endemic for FMD virus; however, the SAT 1 is a new serotype that's recently been introduced.What's concerning about that is that the SAT 1 circulation is usually limited to sub-Saharan Africa.It's usually not detected in the Middle East and this indicates the virus is moving, it is changing, it is being introduced into new populations in negative countries as well as new serotypes in countries that are endemically affected with the virus.This is certainly something we want to keep an eye on.

The recorded webinar can be accessed through the Swine Health Information Center web site at swinehealth.org.

Source : Farmscape.ca

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