USDA facility named as WOAH’s collaborating centre for swine virus research

USA – The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has officially designated the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) as the Collaborating Centre for Genomic Monitoring of Viral Swine Diseases.

This marks a significant recognition of NBAF’s role in the global effort to combat transboundary, emerging, and zoonotic animal diseases.

This designation comes as the spread of African swine fever (ASF) continues to raise alarms worldwide, especially in the USA and Europe. 

According to the European Commission’s Animal Disease Information System, 13 European nations have faced ASF outbreaks in domestic pigs this year, with Serbia (116 outbreaks), Romania (107), Ukraine (33), Poland (30), and Bosnia-Herzegovina (25) being the worst hit. 

This is a marked increase compared to last year when 16 countries reported 4,513 outbreaks in farmed pigs.

NBAF, a state-of-the-art research and diagnostic laboratory, is renowned for protecting livestock against dangerous pathogens. 

The facility’s leadership team includes Dr. Manuel Borca, microbiologist of the Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit; Dr. Lisa Hensley, leader of the Zoonotic and Emerging Disease Research Unit; and Dr. Chad Mire, leader of the Foreign Arthropod-Borne Animal Disease Research Unit.

“This designation is a high honour and showcases NBAF’s extensive and diverse expertise of leading USDA researchers on a world stage,” said Dr Alfonoso Clavijo, NBAF’s director.

As a WOAH Collaborating Centre, NBAF will provide essential support and training to member laboratories on understanding viral genomes. 

It will focus particularly on viruses that pose significant threats to swine, such as the African swine fever virus, classical swine fever virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, and Nipah virus. 

By decoding the genetic makeup of these viruses, scientists can better understand their disease mechanisms and develop strategies to mitigate outbreaks.

The centre will initially focus on the African swine fever virus, with plans to expand its services to other swine pathogens. 

These services will include performing next-generation sequencing for laboratories with limited capacity, offering protocols and training for sample collection and analysis, and establishing reliable bioinformatic pipelines to standardize genomic data.

In addition to these efforts, the centre will build a biorepository of well-characterized virus strains, aid in monitoring outbreaks, and support vaccine development efforts in affected areas. 

This collaborative approach will amplify the impact of USDA’s research efforts and enhance global biosecurity measures against viral swine diseases.

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