USDA Grant Expands SHIC-Initiated Swine Disease Reporting System

After pioneering a SHIC-funded system to improve swine health by reporting pathogen test results from public veterinary diagnostic laboratories across the Midwest, a team led by faculty from Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has plans to glean even more insight from the vast data set. A new three-year, $1 million grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has been awarded to enable the Swine Disease Reporting System team and collaborators expand how this data is utilized to inform disease trends and improve swine health. With a grant from SHIC, the SDRS was founded six years ago by Dr. Daniel Linhares, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. The goal was to compile and analyze testing data from veterinary diagnostic labs to detect disease trends as they emerged, providing producers with an early warning system to prompt preventative responses such as increasing monitoring and heightening biosecurity measures.