Lessons Learned in ASF Infected Regions Strengthen Prevention in Uninfected Regions

The Swine Health Information Center says lessons learned in regions impacted by African Swine Fever have helped improve strategies to keep the infection out of North America. As part of its January eNewsletter the Swine Health Information Center has released its monthly domestic and global swine disease monitoring reports.

SHIC Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says, with outbreaks in Poland and in Siri Lanka, African Swine Fever is not abating but prevention strategies have evolved.

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

Early on when they were looking at vaccines, for example, many different killed products were utilized and it was learned that they really weren't effective.
So, now strategies are assessing, how can we do some sort of modified live vaccine virus but still retain the health of the animal and reduce virus spread?
I think there's a lot more aggressive surveillance at our borders to try to prevent illegal meats and meat products from coming into the country but also, we're looking at other different strategies, such as transportation strategies, and other things that we can do to help reduce the risk through those methods of spread.

I still think there is optimism that we can keep the virus out and prevent it from coming into the country but it's also very important to look at and have lessons learned from other countries as they manage this virus, both for successes of keeping the virus out, but also for the failures of why the virus entered and how did they manage to get the virus back out again, if possible.Taking advantage of these learnings is going to be very important to help continue to mitigate the risk of this virus.

Dr. Becton suggests the shifting ASF infection patterns highlight the fact that management and control are complex and that you can never let your guard down as far as identifying and mitigating the risk factors for virus spread.SHIC's domestic and global swine disease monitoring reports can be accessed at swinehealth.org.