AgWired

How do pigs respond to infection? This is the passion of Dr. Mike Murtaugh, Ph.D from the University of Minnesota. His passion was rewarded when he received funding through the Respiratory Disease Research Board with support from BIVI of $35,000 for his project, “Pen-Side Respiratory Pathogen Identification. The honor was bestowed during the American Association of Swine Veterinarians conference in New Orleans. Also during the conference, Murtaugh gave a presentation based on his award-winning research.

Chuck Zimmerman caught up with Murtaugh to learn more about his work. Murtaugh said his research is focused on pig health, particularly how pigs respond to infection. He noted they have done a lot of work in the PRRS virus since PCV2 emerged in 2006 and PEDv. “In general, we’re trying to understand how pigs respond immunologically to viral infection because we think that information has value in understanding the mechanisms that underlie protective vaccine impacts, and it tells us what about the virus needs to be targeted for effective protection.”

Murtaugh explained that PCV2 has been in America for years without causing infection and then around 2006 the disease exploded throughout North America. Researchers found that there were essentially two virus strains coming out of herds (notated A and B).

“PCVA was the dominate genotype until the disease exploded. PCV2 has become more common, and just recently since 2012 another genetic group we call mutant PCV2B or PCV2D has emerged and is clearly becoming more common though its true prevalence is not understood yet,” said Murtaugh who also speaks about vaccinations’ cross-protection success against these viruses.

You can learn more by listening to Chuck Zimmerman’s interview with Mike: Interview with Dr. Mike Murtaugh, U of Minn

BIVI 2016 AASV Meeting Photo Album

Coverage of American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting sponsored by

The future looks bright for the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) whose conference this year saw record attendance and is expected to keep on growing. As the event came to an end, Chuck Zimmerman had a few minutes with Past President Dr. Ron Broderson, DVM and current President Dr. George Charbonneau, DVM, who also served as the Program Chair for this year’s annual meeting.

Left to right: Dr. George Charbonneau is the new AASV President and the 1st from Canada. Next to him is Past President Dr. Ron Broderson, DVM.

During the interview, Chuck learned about 2015 successes and what’s next for AASV during 2016.

Ron is a swine practitioner from Nebraska who just handled the gavel over to George. “We’ve had a fun year. One of the key developments I’m excited about was featured in Paul Sunberg’s presentation of the Swine Health Information Center, which is an outcome of collaboration with the National Pork Board,” said Broderson. He noted the goal of the center is to get the American swine industry prepared for the next foreign animal event.

Charbonneau is a practitioner from Ontario, Canada who joked the gavel was still hot when Ron handed it over to him that morning. He said the focus from year-to-year has been around the same issues but moving the ball further down the field per se. “The focus for me, and part of our goals for this year and the theme of our conference, ‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants,’ is looking at all the colleagues in our industry to get a sense of how they can all become involved in the requirements for making the Swine Health Information Center work.”

While the leaders at the top are currently active in the initiative, Charbonneau stressed the “importance of all their members chipping in to carry the water and lighten the load, so to speak.”

You can learn more about the past and future of AASV in Chuck Zimmerman’s interview: Interview with AASV's Past & Future Presidents

BIVI 2016 AASV Meeting Photo Album

Coverage of American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting sponsored by