The Swine Health Committee, a producer-led working group tasked with setting swine health research priorities and selecting proposals, has approved the funding of six projects related to PMWS and Porcine Circovirus-2 (PCV-2) for a total of $300,000.

Two proposals were approved following a call for non-Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome swine health proposals and will be funded with $100,000. Four additional projects were received and approved following a targeted call for PMWS research proposals and will be funded with a total of $200,000.

Producers on the Swine Health Committee identified PMWS as a funding priority following an increase in the incidence of PMWS cases reported from operations around the country. Porcine Circovirus-2 (PCV-2) has been frequently isolated from these outbreaks, as have a range of other respiratory pathogens.

Dr. Pamela Zaabel, director of swine information and research, is the Pork Checkoff’s liaison between the Swine Health Committee and the researchers involved in PMWS projects. Zaabel said, “Producers in the committee recognized that the forms of the syndrome reported recently are different from what we have seen in the past in cases related to PMWS. There is a lot that we do not yet fully understand about this new form of the syndrome and the Pork Checkoff is leading the support needed to get the research information.“

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