Swine Health Information Center Observes 10 Years of Protecting U.S. Swine Health

The Swine Health Information Center is celebrating a decade of work aimed at protecting the health of the U.S. swine herd.The Swine Health Information Center, launched in July, 2015 protects the health of the U.S. swine herd through preparedness, coordinated communications, global disease monitoring, analysis of swine health data and targeted research investments.

SHIC Executive Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder says the organization has been involved in some large research initiatives over the past decade.

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

One of those are looking at the Japanese Encephalitis virus.We saw that outbreak in Australia.We wanted to understand what the risks were for the North American herd, we wanted to understand where it could be introduced, how could we mitigate mosquito exposure on farm.We had a large program focused on JEV prevention and preparedness and mitigation of that virus.

We also had a large program focused on wean to harvest biosecurity research.How do we enhance the biosecurity practices using new tools, novel technologies in nursery and grow-finish operations while also keeping in mind the transportation segment of our industry that connects swine herds with slaughter plants and secondary points of concentration.

More recently we had a large program focused on H5N1 risk to swine.We saw this introduced into the dairy herds in March of 2024 causing a unique clinical syndrome with mastitis.We wanted to understand what were the risks to our U.S. swine herds.How could we prevent introduction, detect an incursion if it occurs early and how do we mitigate production impact.Those research efforts have identified some of the emerging diseases threats and tried to get ahead of the curve with regards to prevention, mitigation and preparedness.

Dr. Niederwerder says the Swine Health Information Center is continuously looking for the next disease risk and how do we prepare for, prevent and mitigate that risk and build awareness once that risk has been identified.Full details on SHIC's activities can be found at swinehealth.org.
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