Feverish efforts
Pork industry, government agencies work to keep swine disease out of US
Government agencies are working to keep a devastating viral disease affecting swine from reaching the United States.
African swine fever is a highly contagious, terminal illness that begins with flu-like symptoms. Once a hog contracts it, the hogs around it almost certainly will, too, unless the infected hog is quarantined immediately, said Tony Forshey, the state veterinarian at the Ohio Department of Agriculture. There is no cure or vaccine.
In 2018, about 6,000 outbreaks were reported across 22 African countries, three European countries, and China, Cambodia and Vietnam in eastern Asia, according to data from the World Organisation for Animal Health.
No case has been reported in the United States, and government agencies are working to keep it that way.
“We are preparing for the possibility that if it should get here, (we must decide) what we are going to do about it,” Forshey said.
As of June 1, the United States had 75.5 million hogs used for either market or breeding purposes, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. From 2012 to 2017, the hog industry sold more than $235 billion worth of pork. Ohio alone has more than 2.6 million hogs and pigs.
Bryan Humphreys, executive vice president of the Ohio Pork Council, said the disease affects only pigs, although it's possible the virus could mutate in the future.
Forshey said the disease can be spread through pigs' bodily fluids, even if they are dead. It also can be transmitted through a tick species (one not found in the U.S.) and through indirect contact.
To contain the disease, farmers abroad have been
euthanizing the infected hog and all others that had been in contact with it. Forshey said that would be the best option in the U.S. if the virus reaches here.
”Anytime we have a foreign animal disease, we take notice to see how it would respond if it were in the United States,” he said.
The USDA does not allow the import of pork or pork products from countries that have had infections. The department uses specially trained beagles at the U.S. border to sniff out tainted products, Forshey said.
Also, “in the United States, there are 1 million pigs that (are transported) every day,” Forshey said. “There’s a lot of pigs that move across state lines every day into production systems.”
All 50 state veterinarians participate in a weekly conference call about the disease, Forshey said. He also is in daily contact with the USDA.
The Ohio Pork Council has been working with the Ohio Department of Agriculture on a response plan if the disease reaches the U.S.
Producers in Ohio and nationwide have been focusing on biosecurity to keep as many diseases away from swine as possible, said the council’s Humphreys. For example, pigs are kept in climate-controlled buildings, and workers must shower and change clothes before entering those buildings.
“We already have pretty stringent biosecurity protocols on most of our farms,” Humphreys said. “It’s not any different than an ICU in a hospital.”
The Illinois-based hogproduction company The Maschhoffs has farms in six Midwestern states, the closest to Ohio being Indiana. Each year, it produces about 4 million market hogs, which feed about 16 million people, said Josh Flint, associate director of communication.
Flint said the company is working to create a plan to track where its hogs are in case they need to be quarantined if infected.
About 25% of U.S. pork is exported, and if the disease does reach the U.S., pork producers’ export markets would immediately be cut off, Flint said.
“This is really rampant in China right now, but that has had a positive impact on the U.S. pork market,” Flint said. “China has been importing ... We are hopeful in the U.S. that we can control it more effectively in China.”