1. Foot-and-Mouth Disease or Senecavirus A? Why Swine Producers Can't Afford a Mix-Up
As Senecavirus A cases rise, experts warn this clinically identical lookalike to foot-and-mouth disease requires immediate reporting and enhanced biosecurity to protect U.S. swine herds.
By Jennifer Shike
PorkBusiness.com
April 17, 2026
While foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) makes its way through regions of Europe and Asia, a "lookalike" virus - Senecavirus A (SVA) - is gaining momentum in the U.S. swine industry.
Experts warn that SVA is clinically indistinguishable from FMD. Both viruses cause vesicular lesions on the snout, mouth, and coronary bands, often resulting in sudden lameness. With new FMD serotypes emerging globally that current vaccines cannot stop, the stakes for U.S. biosecurity have never been higher.
"Vigilance for detection and diagnostic confirmation of vesicular lesions of swine continues to be critical to prevent FMD entry into the U.S. especially with increasing global disease activity," says Dr. Ann Carpenter, a veterinary medical officer with USDA APHIS Veterinary Services.
Understanding the virus, its pathogenesis, routes of transmission, disease trends, as well as control and mitigation steps, can help producers protect their herd from this emerging disease and enhance prevention for other vesicular diseases such as FMD.
2. HPU Researcher Builds Field Test For Brucellosis In Hawaii's Wild Pigs
By Elenore Chase
Hoodline.com
April 17, 2026
Hunters in Hawaii could soon have a new tool in their packs: a portable test kit that tells them on the spot whether a wild pig is carrying brucellosis before they start breaking it down for the freezer or the imu.
A research team led by assistant biology professor Jessica Jacob at Hawaii Pacific University is working on a field kit that would give hunters a rapid read on whether a feral pig is infected with the bacteria. The goal is straightforward but ambitious: help hunters handle and cook meat more safely while collecting enough samples to map how the disease is moving across the islands.
Jacob and her team are building what they say would be the first test kit designed specifically for Hawaii hunters to detect brucellosis, according to Hawaii News Now. She told the outlet that the bacteria typically causes flu-like illness and can lead to miscarriages in pregnant people, and that hunters most often get sick when infected fluids enter cuts during butchering or when they eat undercooked meat.
Full text: https://hoodline.com/2026/04/hpu-scientist-cooking-up-quick-test-to-flag-sick-wild-pigs/
3. Bovine Respiratory Disease Research Receives $4 Million Grant
WNAX.com
April 17, 2026
A faculty member at Kansas State University is taking a deep dive into a disease that is the leading cause of mortality in the cattle industry. The work of this research team has been recognized for its significance and recently received a $4 million grant to continue their study of Bovine Respiratory Disease.
Dr. Brad White, professor at the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Director of Beef Cattle Institute, says that their early findings have brought new light to the effects of BRD on the entire body.
"Many of the cattle that we've evaluated, about three-quarters of them, have more than one thing going on," White said. "So while respiratory disease may have been part of the issue, we also see issues in the gastrointestinal tract or we see issues in other body organs…so what we're trying to figure out is, as this [is a] preventative program, we need to be pretty wholistic and not just focus on 'okay I gave this vaccine'… we need to combine that with an overall animal health management plan."
4. Oregon Horse Tests Positive for Equine Influenza
EDCC Health Watch
TheHorse.com
April 17, 2026
According to the Oregon Department of Agriculture, one horse at a private facility in Crook County has tested positive for equine influenza. Three additional horses are suspected to be positive. The horses are quarantined.
Full text: https://thehorse.com/1143937/oregon-horse-tests-positive-for-equine-influenza-2/
5. New CWD rules regulate disposal of deer, new no feeding deer areas [PA - edited]
By Brian Whipkey
Erie Times-News
April 16, 2026
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is developing new "no deer feeding" boundaries and an optional kit for hunters to have their deer tested for Chronic
Wasting Disease (CWD), and the regulations have changed on how to dispose of a deer.
The agency approved several new regulations for managing the fatal neurological disease in deer during its April 11 board meeting. However, more changes are anticipated going forward.
"One of the main changes is going to be, if you harvest a deer in what used to be a Disease Management Area (DMA), previously you could not bring that deer home. Now you can bring it home, but the high-risk parts have to go in the trash," Andrea Korman, the Game Commission's Chronic Wasting Disease biologist, said.
6. Wang Awarded NIFA Grant to Study Early Pregnancy in Pigs [NC]
By Sam Jones
NC State
April 20, 2026
The U.S. pork industry contributes over $50 billion to the economy every year, yet reproductive limitations remain a major challenge. Despite advances, a significant number of embryos are lost during early pregnancy and pigs give birth to a higher rate of "runts" than any other mammal. These limitations are a threat to improving animal health, reproductive efficiency, food stability and profitability in the swine industry.
Xiaoqiu (Churchill) Wang, associate professor in the Department of Animal Science at NC State University, is working to better understand these issues with support from a $650,000 grant recently awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). In collaboration with NC State faculty Billy Flowers, professor of animal science, and Jorge Piedrahita, professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Wang will study embryo development in the early stages of pregnancy in pigs.
All of Wang's research starts with the question, "How does life begin?" Wang's USDA-funded project therefore focuses on the critical early window when embryos must successfully implant in the uterus, communicate with the mother and develop into a healthy fetus.
"Early pregnancy is one of the most complex and least understood stages of life," Wang says. "Even modest improvements in how the uterus supports developing embryos could lead to meaningful gains in animal health, sustainability and food production."
Full text: https://cals.ncsu.edu/news/wang-awarded-nifa-grant-to-study-early-pregnancy-in-pigs/