Novel Equine Rotavirus Poses No Risk to Swine Production

A team of researchers working with the Swine Health Information Center has determined a novel rotavirus that affected foals in Kentucky this spring poses no risk to swine production. Research from the University of Kentucky's Gluck Equine Research Center that linked the loss of foals in that state this spring to a novel equine rotavirus B prompted the Swine Health Information Center to investigate the potential risk of this pathogen to swine.

SHIC Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg says Dr. Feng Li with the University of Kentucky's Gluck Equine Research Center, Dr. Albert Rovira of the University of Minnesota, Dr. Ben Hause of South Dakota State University and Dr. Eric Burrough of Iowa State University conferred with SHIC and determined there was no need for action.

Clip-Dr. Paul Sundberg-Swine Health Information Center:

Their consensus was that the equine rotavirus was actually more similar to ruminant rotaviruses than it would be to the swine rotavirus even though both of them are type B. Their consensus was that it's very unlikely that that virus could jump into the swine herd.

That's good news. These folks are the experts and they're the ones that know the best. They said it's more likely to jump into cattle as a matter of fact than it is likely to jump into pigs. That's good news and that's something that we put into the newsletters. We've made sure that people are aware that the Swine Health Information continues to look.

One of the missions of the center is to monitor for emerging diseases and assessing risk from emerging diseases. This is an example of typing to do that to assess risk of a newly identified virus that could have the potential to cause problems in the U.S. swine herd.