USDA renews program to fight pig syndrome

WASHINGTON, July 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. Agriculture Department Thursday said it was renewing funding for research, education and extension service regarding pig health.

The $4.8 million available to the USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service for the next four years will help reduce animal suffering and economic losses from Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, the department said in a release.

The condition affects about 60 percent of the U.S. swine herds annually, costing the industry about $580 million.

"A new strain of highly pathogenic PRRS has been found in China and Vietnam and is implicated as the primary cause of Porcine High Fever Disease, resulting in the death of large numbers of swine," said Gale

Buchanan, USDA under secretary for research, education, and economics.

Renewing the Coordinated Agricultural Project, which focuses on prevention and control, will help ensure "the right tools are available to keep this foreign strain from affecting the U.S. swine population," Buchanan said. A number of universities are involved in the program.

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome causes reproductive failure in adult female pigs and reduces growth efficiency. In addition it causes pneumonia in nursing pigs and potentially premature death in swine herds.