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SHIC funds disease monitoring system being developed by U of Minnesota

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) is funding a program designed to monitor global animal disease threats near real-time.

SHIC executive director Dr. Paul Sundberg says the project, in development at the University of Minnesota, will provide thorough analysis of current and emerging swine viruses.

“Let’s look and see what’s happening (to) try and predict what’s coming over the hill.  And in predicting that, we can be better prepared should it get here.”

He tells Brownfield collecting this type of information near real-time is a big step for the swine industry.

“We’re developing a system in which we can look at what’s termed as ‘soft information sources.’  It might even be a rumor, or something going on that might be reported in a newspaper or magazine.”

Sundberg says the soft data will be combined with official notifications analyzed by experts including USDA.

The Near Real-Time Global Swine Disease Monitoring System is expected to be operational early in 2018.