PRRS Corner – New Feature in e-Letter

February 1, 2012 — 

The AASV PRRS Task Force met in Chicago in December. One of the key outcomes of that meeting was the recognition of the need to increase the educational outreach to AASV members regarding PRRS research and activities. Task Force chair, Dr. Montse Torremorell, emphasized the tremendous amount of research and grassroots efforts currently ongoing to bring this devastating disease under control and the need to share this information with AASV members.

It was suggested that the Task Force could use the weekly AASV e-Letter as a mechanism to update our membership on important research efforts, Task Force activities, the progress of elimination projects, diagnostic findings and current news regarding viral spread and severity. To this end, we are introducing the PRRS Corner. Each week, the Task Force will provide a short article on a PRRS topic of interest. In most cases, this article will summarize an activity or research effort and provide a link to additional information. The objective is to highlight the efforts that are underway to provide veterinarians and producers with the information and tools they need to continue to control and eliminate the PRRS virus.

So, hopefully you will find these articles to be a helpful and timely resource. I’m sure Dr. Torremorell and the Task Force members would welcome any suggestions or input you would like to provide. We’ll start out next week with a review of the recent publication authored by Drs. Derald Holtkamp and Dale Polson outlining suggested uniform terminology for use in describing the disease on a herd level.