New vaccine could work against foot and mouth Monday, 4 June 2007 A new vaccine shows promise for preventing foot and mouth disease in livestock, proving effective in tests on cattle and swine in the United States. Scientists expect that more studies will show at least the six months of immunity is provided by current vaccines in cattle and swine. The vaccine shows effectiveness within seven days, and in tests so far, cattle retain immunity for at least 21 days. The disease is rarely...

The virus causes still-births, fever, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, redness of the skin and mortality rates of up to 50 percent on some farms. The white blood cells would normally ingest and remove invading bacteria and viruses, but not in the case of the PRRS virus. Although Beijing has not published any figures, Chinese industry officials say the disease has caused a million pig deaths since the first outbreak in southern Jiangxi province in May last year. China issued draft rules for pig...

The upshot of this pig plague is a near-30% rise in pork prices and an even bigger jump in the price of pigs. This hits China's population hard, since pork is a staple of the local diet, notwithstanding recent incursions by Western food vendors. Why do we care about this distant problem? For starters, some analysts project that inflation in China will have risen to around 4% from 3% in the most recent month. It apparently set up a "strategic pork reserve" in the late 1990s to offset an...

Argus Leader Media - News Subscribe Now eEdition Login How to Advertise Mobile Work for Us! Customer Service Contact Us ArgusLeader.com Make Us Your Homepage. Department of Justice, Smithfield Foods inc., the parent of John Morrell & co. in Sioux Falls, announced this morning it completed a controversial $800 million acquisition of Premium Standard Farms inc., a deal that unites the nation s two largest hog producers. Argus Leader Media - News Subscribe Now eEdition Login How to Advertise...

Inoculation studies have shown that the virus remains in pigs' faeces and some organs for up to 30 days after infection. However, if the infection weakens and pigs don't get infected with HEV until they are older, more pigs will still be carrying the virus when they reach the slaughterhouse. Vaccines are currently under development against HEV, although Satou and Nishiura suggest that changes in husbandry practices and avoiding eating raw liver might be more cost-effective measures should...