State prepares for African Swine Fever outbreak

Hog farmers across the United States have been aware of the African Swine Fever (ASF) for several years, however the recent endemic outbreak in China and throughout several Asian countries has now put farmers on high alert about the potential for the disease to enter the U.S.

ASF, which has infected and killed up to half of the hog population in China, has a 95 percent fatality rate for commercial herds. The disease is prevalent throughout Asia and currently there is no known vaccine to combat the fever.

While deadly for swine, eating meat from a hog that had ASF does not affect humans. The disease does not pose any health or food risk to people. Still, ASF is a large concern for those involved in the swine industry. Because of its fatality rate, an outbreak could be detrimental to the industry if it were to spread quickly throughout the country.

According to Iowa State University Extension's southeast Iowa swine field specialist Tom Miller, with ASF, hogs get 106 to 108 degree fevers that cause their blood vessels to burst. Autopsies of pigs infected with the fever show enlarged spleens. The prevalence of the disease in China can have large implications for the hog industry. China remains one of the largest producers and consumers of swine. The average Chinese person consumes 98 pounds of pork each year, versus the 52 pounds per year that Americans consume. A decrease in hog farming in the Asian country has had an impact corn and soybean feed prices due to lower demand. An outbreak in the U.S. would cause exports to plummet, causing a ripple effect through various agriculture industries.

However, the greater worry is in feed products that are made and imported from China. Many of the vitamins added to hog feed that supplements and encourages nutrition and growth come from Asian countries. As the outbreak has become more serious, measures that include keeping imported feed vitamins on docks for up to six months have been implemented as preventive measures. Other means through which the disease could spread is through the movement of animals or people who come in contact with pigs as well as uncooked processed meats and products brought in from different countries that are currently facing ASF.

To combat a potential outbreak, joint efforts between the United States Department of Agriculture and Iowa's Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship were recently put toward running a test exercise and simulation in late September to determine the best course of action should an outbreak occur. Iowa was one of 14 states that participated in the simulation. Heidi Vittetoe from J.V. Vittetoe Pork, a farm in Washington County that was part of the four-day simulation, noted that the extra measures by the national and state agencies come as a result of underpreparedness in previous disease outbreaks.

'This magnitude of preparedness is new because when porcine epidemic diarrhea virus happened, the state realized they were woefully under prepared,” Vittetoe said.

According to Vittetoe, the four-day simulation included reporting symptoms to a local vet and collecting samples from an 'infected” herd on day one. Emergency procedures would be enacted once a positive herd is identified and a 72 hour ban on movement of hogs would be enacted. Vittetoe noted that on a daily basis, close to 2 million hogs are being transported throughout the country. Once the ban has been called, a 12 hour window is opened for hogs to get off the road. The following two days of the simulation were focused on how best to decontaminate sites, including euthanizing infected herds and properly disposing of their bodies, and recovering from the outbreak and resuming business. If a positive herd is found on a site, all the pigs on that farm would have to be put down to prevent further spread of the disease.

Vittetoe noted that several discussions were prompted by the tests including fair compensation of hog farmers who would lose their pigs.

'No one is going to be willing to do that unless they know they're going to get payment for animals … there was discussion about making sure … a person who owns pigs is treated fairly in their contribution to stopping ASF,” she said.

While the disease has not hit U.S. land yet, hog farmers are worried about the inevitability of ASF coming to the country. Robert McConnell, a pig farmer in Washington County, noted that a potential outbreak 'could ruin people financially.”

'Twenty-five percent of pork production goes abroad. It doesn't seem like a big number, but it's a giant number. If we couldn't export that, our markets would just plummet,” he added.

'It's our livelihood,” the hog farmer stressed. He went further to explain that he felt a medical breakthrough would be the 'only saving grace” and solution to an outbreak.

'People think it's going to be a really tough disease to stop,” McConnell added.

Mike Naig, the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture noted that while the test exercises were to test the state's ability to address an outbreak, his office is 'focused on preventing” the disease from ever making it into the country.

'I believe it's not inevitable,” Naig said.

'It's going to take enhanced biosecurity, throughout the entire industry to keep out of North America … the best thing to do is prevent it from every coming here,” he added.

To Naig, the test exercises were instrumental in identifying potential gaps and areas of improvement to their response plan.

'In my mind there are a lot of research questions about how do we best contain this virus and clean up and disinfect from it,” the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture said.

Naig added that the country is looking at how it can work with countries overseas to address endemic outbreaks of the disease and encourages hog farmers to be aware of their biosecurity, keeping things outside of hog buildings outside and keeping things inside the hog buildings inside.

Vittetoe echoed Naig's sentiment when she said, '99 percent of the risk could be addressed through good basic biosecurity.”