Farmscape for April 24, 2023

The Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center says the use of unapproved vaccines has contributed to a resurgence of African Swine Fever in China.
The Swine Health Information Center's April global swine disease monitoring report, released as part of its monthly enewsletter indicates a new ASF surge in China after the new year is set to reduce hog output and push up market prices.
Dr. Paul Sundberg, the Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center and a member of the Swine Innovation Porc Coordinated African Swine Fever Research Working Group, says the use of unapproved vaccines is contributing to the problem.

Clip-Dr. Paul Sundberg-Swine Health Information Center:
China went through that first wave in 2018 when it started and it worked through for multiple years in China to take out a good portion of its swine herd.
The Chinese producers and the Chinese government are trying to support repopulation of their breeding herd and that introduces susceptible animals into the country.
Even though there are a variety of different vaccines that are being used in China, those vaccines sometimes are not the safest and most effective so that helps give an underlying issue of hiding virus rather than finding it.
The vaccines may tamp it down enough that it isn't obvious but it's still there and so there is a resurgence in the high hog areas, the high pig areas of China that China is trying to deal with now.

Dr. Sundberg suggests the use of these different African Swine Fever vaccines is one of the biggest issues that needs to be worked through.
He notes those vaccines contain an array of genetic material that may obscure the virus and ultimately make the infection more difficult to control.
SHIC'S swine disease surveillance reports can be accessed at swinehealth.org.
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Bruce Cochrane.

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