Source: “At The Meeting… Honoring Dr. Bob Morrison”
The recent outbreak of African swine fever has sparked many questions across the industry. In an effort to help answer some of those, “At The Meeting… Honoring Dr. Bob Morrison” has put together two deep dive podcasts to investigate the matter further.

Tom Wetzell, Gordon Spronk and Montserrat Torremorell visit with experts about how the disease has spread in other parts of the world, what makes it such a challenging virus to control and how countries, including Russia, are having success in reducing its impact.

In the first segment, Liz Wagstrom, chief veterinarian with the National Pork Producers Council, talks with the hosts about the history of the disease and how it spread from Africa to parts of Asia and eastern Europe.

“What makes it one of the most feared swine diseases in the world is that it is very transmissible, has a very high mortality rate, and currently has no vaccine,” says Wagstrom.

Wagstrom reviews clinical signs of the disease and its rapid progression and explains what the U.S. swine industry is doing to prevent the introduction of ASF into U.S. swine herds. She also reviews steps U.S. producers can take to safeguard their herds.

The second episode features Brad Heron, director of operations for the Cherkizovo Group, one of Russia’s largest fully integrated swine production companies. With 20 years of experience working in large Midwestern swine operations, Heron began his work in Russia in 2014, and since then has dealt with two major outbreaks of ASF, the first one leading to the loss of 85,000 head. He shares firsthand observations of how the virus presents in infected pigs, how quickly it progresses and how they traced its source.

Heron also discusses the strict biosecurity protocols that were already in place prior to the outbreaks, and how the Cherkizovo Group improved isolation and monitoring procedures afterward.

He says regular and rigorous testing is essential to keeping the disease out of an operation and to containing it when it is discovered.

To listen to these episodes and more, visit AtTheMeetingOnline.com.