In the US, the director of swine health information and research with the National Pork Board has stressed that stepped up biosecurity is the first line of defence against the spread of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea, which has been causing losses in the industry for the past few months.

The total number of swine accessions and diagnostic case submissions testing positive for the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea (PED) virus is now 378, according the latest figures from the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) dated 24 July.

Since the start of reporting in mid-April, a total of 14 states are known to have been affected. Those with 10 or more positive tests are: Iowa, 142; Oklahoma, 96; Minnesota, 36; Kansas, 19; Indiana, 18; Ohio, 11 and Colorado, 10.

Last week, Russian Minister of Agriculture, Nikolai Fedorov, paid a visit to Smolensk to attend a workshop on measures to contain the African Swine Fever (ASF) situation in the region.

Over the past month, the Vyazemskyi region has recorded the third incidence of the disease.

Mr Fyodorov said that the biosecurity on pig farms had to be strengthened and assistance to the private farms that cannot be adequately protected by technical measures needs to be accelerated to prevent the spread of ASF to other pig breeding areas.

At the same meeting, acting Director of the Veterinary Department of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, Svetlana Dresvyannikova, said that in 2011 and 2012, there were no cases of ASF in the region but since the beginning of the year, there have been three incidents.

She said a major feature of the present situation was that now the incidents of ASF are recorded at the Central Federal Register, whereas in the past they had been registered in the regions of the North Caucasus and the Southern federal districts.

This, she said, indicated that the situation with regard to the spread of the disease had become worse.

More outbreaks of ASF have also been discovered in pigs on private farms in the Volgograd and Moscow regions.

Researchers at the University of Missouri are investigating genetically engineered pigs that may lead to the development of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS)-resistant swine.