USDA Grant Expands SHIC-Initiated Swine Disease Reporting System

Jun 12, 2023

After pioneering a SHIC-funded system to improve swine health by reporting pathogen test results from public veterinary diagnostic laboratories across the Midwest, a team led by faculty from Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has plans to glean even more insight from the vast data set. A new three-year, $1 million grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has been awarded to enable the Swine Disease Reporting System team and collaborators expand how this data is utilized to inform disease trends and improve swine health.

With a grant from SHIC, the SDRS was founded six years ago by Dr. Daniel Linhares, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. The goal was to compile and analyze testing data from veterinary diagnostic labs to detect disease trends as they emerged, providing producers with an early warning system to prompt preventative responses such as increasing monitoring and heightening biosecurity measures.

“It gives producers, practitioners and other stakeholders timely information about regional disease movement and risk that helps them manage the health of their own herds,” SHIC Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg said.

With nearly 73 million hogs in the US, the testing data collected by SDRS is substantial – more than 530,000 individual results in 2022, per Dr. Giovani Trevisan, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. “With the grant, we’re going to dive deeper into the data to provide even more value to producers,” said Trevisan, projector director for the NIFA award.

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Pat Hoffmann, Swine Technical Consultant at Elanco Animal Health tells us about the impact of New World Screwworm. The emergence of New World screwworm in the U.S. creates a threat for veterinarians, livestock producers and pet owners that has not been seen north of the Florida Keys since the fly was eradicated from the United States more than 50 years ago. New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax) larvae feed on living tissue and can affect a wide range of warm-blooded animals, including livestock, companion animals, wildlife, and even humans.
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Elanco is working alongside the U.S. animal health industry to help them fight against this parasite, offering a portfolio of options for pets and livestock that can help treat New World screwworm larvae infestations.