The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service is accepting applications for its agribusiness trade mission to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, scheduled for July 13-17. Current and potential U.S. exporters interested in exploring trade opportunities in the region must apply by April 2nd.
“...
While much has been accomplished in its 50 years of existence, the Administrator of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Kevin Shea, said efforts to prevent and control pest and disease threats will never really end. For instance, he pointed to efforts to keep African Swine Fever out of our country
...
African Swine Fever is a growing threat, as the disease spreads to countries close to the U.S., but Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says there’s still no ready vaccine, so preventing entry here is the best option. The highly contagious, deadly, and economically devastating disease is on the move, now in countries all over the world and as close as the Caribbean. Sec
...
The World Organization for Animal Health this week confirmed finding African swine fever in Haiti. Haiti borders the Dominican Republic, which confirmed the virus was in-country this summer. The farm in Haiti with confirmed African swine fever is near the border
...
A vaccine for African Swine Fever?
Not yet, but there is work going on in southeast Asia that USDA officials call "the most promising vaccine to date".
Dr. Jeff Silverstein with ARS said a company in Vietnam working with US researchers, has come up with a vaccine which has performed well in lab tests so far and the company has recently gotten approval for field tests in Vietnam
...
Read
As we told you last week, African Swine Fever was recently discovered in the Dominican Republic.
"It's a disease that pigs and pigs only. it doesn't effect man in any way and another other animal species except the swine populations in the world
...
The USDA announced this week that the Dominican Republic has confirmed cases of African swine fever. The cases were confirmed as part of a cooperative surveillance program between the United States and the Dominican Republic. The United States remains free of ASF, an animal disease affecting only pigs with no human health implications, and imports no pork, animal feed or other pork-related product