Regional Disease Warning Tool Results from SHIC Funding

A SHIC-funded effort aimed at increasing swine disease awareness, prevention, and preparedness, The Early Regional Occurrence Warning project, was launched by Drs. Xiaomei Yue and Mariana Kikuti with the Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Project in September 2022. On May 9, 2023, the first TEROW report was sent to participants and will be released weekly. Through the TEROW report, participants are notified if a swine disease is occurring in the region surrounding their sites and are alerted if regional disease occurrence is increasing. MSHMP’s primary mission, capturing and analyzing swine health data on a weekly basis from participating farms, makes TEROW possible. TEROW remains open for participation. Producers and practitioners who would like to better understand regional disease occurrence are encouraged to contact MSHMP by emailing Dr. Cesar Corzo at [email protected] to learn more about enrollment.

The MSHMP team began program development by 1) calculating the distance between the TEROW participating site(s) and neighboring site(s) recently reporting a PRRS outbreak  on a weekly basis; 2) automating the generation of a reporting radius that balances the epidemiological relevance and confidentiality, enabling timely disease prevention measures while preserving confidentiality; and 3) automating the generation and delivery of individualized reports to specific participant email addresses, reducing manual errors.

In March and April 2023, the MSHMP team engaged with TEROW participants individually to assess program development progress, asking whether they agreed with the report outline and content. This process resulted in discussions regarding the reporting radius, site information listed, obtaining feedback, and any concerns participants raised ahead of the first TEROW report distribution in May.

Whether an endemic or emerging disease, the goal is to quickly report regional status to participating producers, allowing them to enhance diagnostic and clinical monitoring, together with ensuring biosecurity protocols, to protect their herds. Enrollment in TEROW for MSHMP participants is dependent solely on signing a specific project agreement and no additional data is required as the project uses data already collected through MSHMP.

The Swine Health Information Center, launched in 2015 with Pork Checkoff funding, protects and enhances the health of the US swine herd by minimizing the impact of disease threats through preparedness, coordinated communications, global disease monitoring, analysis of swine health data, and targeted research investments. As a conduit of information and research, SHIC encourages sharing of its publications and research. Forward, reprint, and quote SHIC material freely. For more information, visit http://www.swinehealth.org or contact Dr. Paul Sundberg at [email protected] or Dr. Megan Niederwerder at [email protected].