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One year ago...
Last year, the Board of Animal Health and countless other state, federal and local agencies, livestock groups, and industry participated in a nationwide foot and mouth disease functional exercise. In Minnesota, responders gathered in St. Paul in a command center and "played" through the scenario of a FMD outbreak affecting multiple states.
What was learned from the exercise? Operational communications and coordination were listed as items that could use improvement. Responders needed to increase communication across different levels of government and the private sector. In addition to this point, resources could've been coordinated better to respond to the simulated FMD outbreak. Lastly, the exercise identified the need for developing stronger secure supply plans with livestock industries.
From those lessons learned, the Board and industry have strengthened their communication and coordination and have expanded secure supply plans in each industry. Secure supply plans are a necessary component for producers to keep the economic chain moving during a disease event and allow non-infected producers to market their product.
There are similar exercises scheduled to take place later this year to test responders preparedness for a simulated ASF introduction.
APHIS recently released a new map to for livestock producers
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has a new interactive website where livestock producers can find important information about their premises. The site has a map and a library of web links for producers to obtain premises identification numbers (PIN) and location identifiers (LID) in all 50 states.
Why do producers need a PIN?
- PINs and LID registrations allow animal health officials to quickly identify and locate animals in the event of an animal health or food safety emergency.
- A PIN or LID is required to purchase official animal identification tags.
Click here to access the map and state library.
Research hints at promise of ASF vaccine for wild boar
African swine fever (ASF) is a threat to pig populations, both livestock and wild, around the world. The most affected pigs in Europe are the wild boar populations, which can move the virus across borders and around farms, putting producers at risk.
A team of researchers from the University of Madrid, Spain has been working on an oral vaccine to administer to wild boar. According to their study, it's been difficult to find a solution,
"Overall, vaccine development has been hindered by ASFV genetic complexity, gaps in knowledge concerning ASFV infection and immunity, lack of development of neutralizing antibodies, and technical difficulties such as the lack of stable cell lines. In fact, vaccine development has been identified as a major gap in ASF control and eradication."
The goal of the experimental study was to assess the effectiveness of oral immunization of wild boar to protect them against ASFV.
Click here to read the full results of the study.
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