In the Philippines, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has announced it is expanding the government-controlled African swine fever (ASF) vaccine rollout nationwide.

Set to benefit are large farms and smaller herds, reports the official Philippine News Agency (PNA). They explain that the farms must request inclusion in the campaign in writing to the DA. Then officials will visit the premises to assess biosecurity standards and preparations for vaccination.

One stumbling block in the ASF vaccination campaign so far appears to be a shortage of sampling and testing capacities, according to PNA. Vaccines can only be administered to healthy growing pigs (age six weeks or more) that have tested negative for the ASF virus. This requires the collection and testing of blood samples, and there are not enough accredited labs with the capacity to handle these and the follow-up checks taken at specified intervals after vaccination.

As far as Europe is concerned, the ASF situation among Germany’s wild boar population has remained consistently high, reported Schweine at the end of October. Since July, confirmed cases have been running at around 100 per month — much higher than earlier in the year.

Over the period October 16-23, further cases of ASF were confirmed in wild boar by eight European states according to the Animal Disease Information System from the European Commission (EC) Poland and Germany each recorded 39 new cases during that week, Latvia 29 and Bulgaria 13. Smaller numbers of cases were confirmed by Hungary, Italy, Lithuania and Slovakia. So far in 2024, 21 countries in the region have confirmed to the EC a total of 5,299 ASF outbreaks in their respective wild boar populations. For comparison, the EC logged more than 7,900 outbreaks in this category in 20 countries across the region during the whole of 2023. The EC had been informed by 15 countries about cases of ASF affecting their domestic pigs, bringing the regional outbreak total in this population to 657. During the whole of last year, 16 of the region’s states recorded a total of 4,513 ASF outbreaks in this category. Outbreaks have been reported in Italy (Lombardy region), Serbia, Romania and Ukraine, among others. 

When porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) struck U.S. pig herds in 2013, the Iowa State University (ISU) Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VDL) – which carries the nation’s largest swine caseload – scrambled to design a high-capacity test to keep up with the outbreak. Then they had to play a little catch-up to manage the large caseload, which taught the researchers many lessons.

It’s part of the reason VDL researchers have developed a diagnostic test for swine to detect Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), a mosquito-borne disease common in southeast Asia that hasn’t been seen in the US.

JEV became a higher priority after it spread to Australia in 2022, prompting the Swine Health Information Center – a pork checkoff-funded industry organization charged with monitoring swine diseases – to fund development of a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for JEV, the same genetically based screening method considered the gold standard for diagnosing COVID-19.

Having a federally approved JEV test ready would help mitigate the damage of a possible outbreak, which could cause a drop in U.S. pork production of 1-2% and lead to economic losses of up to $612 million, according to an estimate commissioned by the Swine Health Information Center.

While most cases of JEV in pigs lead to minor symptoms, it can cause neurological and reproductive issues. JEV also poses risks for other animals, including humans. Severe symptoms in infected humans are rare, but in the 1 in 250 cases where they develop, the fatality rate is as high as 30%, according to the World Health Organization. The test developed at Iowa State, which can detect all five genotypes of JEV, could be used for humans, said Rahul Nelli, head of the research project.

Because individual pigs produce less methane than cattle, emissions from swine haven’t received as much attention in the scientific literature, according to Elvira Sattorova, a postdoctoral researcher at Aarhus University. But the cumulative impact of pig production is a matter of concern for countries with larger pig populations, including Denmark, Sattorova said. And scientists still know very little about the levers and controls that could minimize methane emissions from swine.

The first study by Sattorova’s research team, which is slated for publication in the October edition of Animal Feed Science and Technology, points to the potential impact of diet. In the study, growing pigs and sows fed diets with large quantities of beet pulp produced more enteric methane than those fed conventional diets or diets with higher quantities of wheat bran. Beet pulp contains more soluble fiber, while wheat bran contains more insoluble fiber, Sattorova explained. Soluble fiber is thought to be easier for most animals to ferment, which in swine appears to result in greater emissions of methane.

The initial study focused on enteric emissions — emissions from the digestive tract — and didn’t consider possible tradeoffs with the potential for emissions from manure. Though future work by Sattorova’s team will consider manure and other factors contributing to emissions from pig production, she said they wanted to focus on fiber in the first study on account of the growing interest in using byproducts that contain different types and quantities of fiber in pig diets.

The use of byproducts is generally considered a means of making animal agriculture more sustainable. But without better data on enteric emissions from pigs, it’s difficult to say with certainty whether the change in diet results in a net benefit to the planet, Sattorova said.

China will examine 3 large European pork processors in the context of the recently announced investigation into alleged “dumping practices of pig products” on the Chinese market. Danish Crown (Denmark), Vion Food Group (the Netherlands) and Litera Meat (Spain) were all ‘selected’ for a detailed investigation, Beijing’s trade department said.

In June, China announced that the country would be investigating what it feels to be unfair trade practices by EU pork exporters, following complaints from the China Animal Husbandry Association (CAHA). It is generally assumed that China has taken the step in retaliation to an EU decision to put a levy on imported Chinese electric cars, despite denials by the Chinese authorities.

All 3 companies have announced that they will fully cooperate and hand over all information requested by the Chinese authorities. They or their national organisations strongly deny the allegations.

Spain is by far the largest exporter of pork and pork products to China. According to figures by Interporc, Spain’s national organisation for the pig sector, in 2023 the Spanish pork industry producers exported 560,448 tonnes with a total value of €1.2 billion. About 20% of all Spanish pork exports went to China. When seen from a Chinese perspective, about 21% of all Chinese pork imports come from Spain. There is no indication from the National Association of Meat Industries of Spain (ANICE) that they are concerned about the Chinese action.

“We enter this phase with full peace of mind, just like the European Commission does. At the same time, we have to open, and keep open, the necessary communication lines between the authorities in China and Spain as well as the EU. If necessary, we will take the initiative to organise that”, said Giuseppe Aloisio, general director of ANICE.

News agency Reuters said that the probe is expected to be completed in June 2025, but could be extended by another 6 months.