Economic Impact of JEV Incursion into the U.S. Estimated at Between 306 Million and 612 Million Dollars

An economic assessment conducted on behalf of the Swine Health Information Center has determined a Japanese encephalitis virus outbreak in the United States, similar to the one experienced in Australia in 2022, would cost the U.S. pork sector between 306 million and 612 million dollars in lost production.

In response to Japanese encephalitis virus outbreak in Australia in 2022, Dr. Liz Wagstrom with Wagstrom Consulting and a team of economists and production veterinarians gathered production data from the Australian outbreak to predict production losses in the event of a U.S. incursion.

Swine Health Information Center Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says understanding the potential economic impacts of JEV on pork production in the U.S. is critical to protecting the health of the US swine herd as well as mitigating the risk of this emerging disease.

Quote-Dr. Lisa Becton-Swine Health Information Center:

Australia's herd size is smaller than the United States.There's about 2.4 million pigs at approximately 43 hundred piggeries where as in comparison the United States has about 72 million pigs spread out across 68 thousand farms.

What was evaluated was the production impact and it was estimated, comparing the Australian outbreak to U.S. production numbers, 32 percent of U.S. herds could be impacted by this outbreak and these are adult breeding herds.This includes losses of one to two percent, mostly to reproductive issues such as failure to reproduce, piglet losses including stillborns and mummies and other things like that.

When compared and estimated, the value to the industry losses is ranging from 306 million to 612 million dollars in that particular outbreak.Full results of the JEV Economic Assessment can be accessed through the Swine Health Information Center website at swinehealth.org.For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.