The Pork Checkoff in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the American Association of Swine Veterinarians and Iowa State University, plan to launch a swine influenza virus campaign.
The campaign – planned to start this September – is being set up to encourage pork producers to participate in swine influenza virus (S.I.V.) surveillance when their pigs show signs of respiratory disease. The results will only be known by state of origin unless a producer asks for a traceable option in writing and do not involve any additional cost for the farmer than they do now when their veterinarian collects similar samples for diagnostic tests.
“It’s our hope that with more samples collected for the surveillance system, future vaccines and herd-health protocols can be improved to offer more disease protection at the farm and national level” said Lisa Becton, Checkoff’s director of swine.