SHIC and AASV Helping Pork Producers Prepare for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza

The Swine Health Information Center and the American Association of Swine veterinarians are helping prepare livestock producers for dealing with highly pathogenic avian influenza.

In response to the identification of highly pathogenic avian influenza in livestock in the United States including goats and dairy cattle, the Swine Health Information Center in collaboration with the American Association of Swine Veterinarians will host a webinar on influenza A viruses April 19th.

SHIC Executive Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder says the webinar will feature an overview of the pathogen's global distribution, research outcomes for highly pathogenic avian influenza experimental infections in swine, experiences and perspectives of the dairy industry and details on the standardized outbreak investigation tool.

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

We really try and present timely and responsive webinars to inform the U.S. industry on potential emerging disease threats and, of course, generate new knowledge on changes with regards to risks as well as mitigation strategies.We want to provide this information as a comprehensive overview of the influenza A virus as well as risks to the swine industry but also to identify potential biosecurity practices that producers can put in place now.

That includes things such as limiting wild bird and wildlife scavenger access to swine farms as well as limiting access to feed such as open feed bins or feed spillage.We also want to identify potential areas in which producers can monitor risk, such as nests or bird dropping near air inlets or entry locations into the swine barn, thinking about what's the risk of surface water and feed contamination from wild bird access and limiting those risks to limit the risk of introduction of any influenza virus into our hog barns.

Anyone interested in participating in the April 18th SHIC AASV webinar can register through the Swine Health Information Center website at swinehealth.org.