Herd health is imperative to the health of all hog operations

Foot and mouth disease, classical swine fever, African swine fever and influenza A virus top the prioritized list of top 25 pathogens of concern as presented by the Swine Disease Matrix Project as presented by the Swine Health Information Center’s Executive Director Paul Sundberg. Others on the list, such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus and Seneca Valley Virus have garnered many headlines and work continues to find solutions to battle these diseases.

Sundberg says the Swine Disease Matrix will be used to prioritize actions and research this year by SHIC.

The Matrix, completed by the Swine Health Monitoring and Analysis Working Group, is created by rating each pathogen using three-part criteria: 

With that in mind, some pathogens made this list that may not be on U.S. producers’ minds, but should be. Here are five that should be on producers, veterinarians and the industry’s radar screen.