In an effort to bolster the renewal of manpower within the swine health industry the Canadian Swine Health Board has allocated funding to support the placement of Post Doctoral Fellows, young scientists who have recently completed their PhD programmes, at six swine health research organizations across Canada.

Canadian Swine Health Board research coordinator Dr Al Theede says eight young scientists have been placed in positions for three years at the University of Alberta, the University of Saskatchewan, the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, the University of Guelph, the University of Montreal and the University of Prince Edward Island.

Dr Al Theede-Canadian Swine Health Board

The work is really quite diverse.

These young scientists are working on things such as tissue culture models for Porcine circovirus and Porcine Reproductive and Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus, they're working on PRRS virus transmission and how it spreads through the countryside from farm to farm.

There's also work on PRRS vaccine technology.

One of the projects is working more on emerging diseases and some of the new things out there, one of them for example the Peri-weaning failure-to-thrive syndrome and also some work on Brachyspira and then the final one is another one working on the genetic impact of disease resistance.

I think there's a recognition now that some animals and some genetic backgrounds are more resistant to some disease organisms than others and that's particularly dealing with swine influenza.

Dr Theede says the veterinary industry faces the same challenges as other industries in that people who will be retiring in the next few years will need to be replaced.

He says the long term hope is that most of those placed though this initiative will stay with the industry.

Further Reading

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Find out more information on PRRS by clicking here.