USAHA News
United States Animal Health Association
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For immediate release:

CAHFSE OVERVIEW PRESENTED TO USAHA SWINE COMMITTEE

        GREENSBORO, N.C., Oct. 27, 2004 -- An overview of the Collaboration on Animal Health 
and Food Safety Epidemiology (CAHFSE) was presented to the USAHA Committee on Transmissible 
Diseases of Swine at its meeting here this week.  This program has the potential to address 
many animal health and food safety issues, as well as national security issues.

	The current design of the program calls for 48 sentinel farms that will collect 
quarterly data.  In addition, slaughter plant data for animals from these farms will be 
collected.  Antimicrobial resistance testing is being done for Campylobacter, Salmonella, 
Enterococcus and E. coli isolates.  In the future, aggregate data from the project will be 
available on a web site.

	Results from this long-term surveillance project within the meat-production system will:

- Monitor changes in pathogen prevalence,
- Monitor changes in pathogen antimicrobial resistance patterns,
- Indicate factors associated with resistance,
- Serve as the basis of hypotheses for on-farm and in-plant research, and
- Indicate factors that impact animal and human health.

	The committee also heard a report from several different perspectives -- including 
practicing veterinarians, diagnostic labs and the herd owner -- on a case of high mortality 
in feeder swine in Minnesota that had been imported from Canada.  There was a rising death 
loss over the course of the disease.  Signs included coughing, lethargy, fever and some 
central nervous signs.  Total mortality was 673 out of 992 pigs or 63 percent.  The surviving 
pigs were virtually normal.  

	Diagnostic tests included histopathology, bacteriology, virology and serology.  PCR tests 
were positive for BVD/Pestivirus, which was significant because classical swine fever (CSF) or 
hog cholera is caused by a pestivirus.  A foreign animal disease diagnostician from USDA’s Animal 
and Plant Health Inspection Service was sent to the farm to collect samples that were sent to the 
USDA Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory on Plum Island, N.Y.  A pestivirus was detected 
by PCR testing as well as virus isolation.  CSF was ruled out as a possible diagnosis and future 
work will include genomic characterization.

	The owner was pleased with all the individuals, institutions and laboratories involved 
in the case.  He reported an actual financial loss of $62,000.

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