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Research Spotlight - Evaluation of an electrostatic precipitator in mitigating the transmission of airborne viruses in experimentally infected pigs

Reprinted as posted on Swine in Minnesota blog May 27, 2025 The publication being shared is from the Torremorell lab exploring a new technology aiming at preventing the transmission of airborne viruses. The full publication is available in open access on the Veterinary Research Journal. Methods: Electrostatic precipitators (ESP) are air cleaning devices removing particles from the air and depositing them on collection surfaces. 4 pigs were inoculated with either PRRSV or influenza A virus (IAV) and placed into two isolators linked through an air duct. The air then went through an ESP prior to reaching 2 naive pigs placed in a third isolator The study lasted until the sentinel pigs were confirmed positive or the study went on for 10 days, whichever came first. Read the full list of methods and results on the Swine in Minnesota blog.
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Swine & U: Getting deep into PRRS at the U (Part 1)

By Diane DeWitte, UMN Extension swine educator Originally printed in The LAND - as May 12, 2025 Swine & U column Producers who were raising pigs in the 1980s can clearly remember the first time they encountered the “Mystery Swine Disease,” a deadly virus that affected both breeding and finishing hogs and changed the landscape of pig production forever. First found in herds in Indiana, North Carolina, Minnesota and Iowa, it was soon named Porcine Reproductive & Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS). Historically, conservative estimates are that PRRS virus costs the U.S. swine industry more than $687 million per year (Holtkamp et al, 2013). SIX YEARS AGO SEEMS A LIFETIME! In 2019 University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) researchers, and collaborators at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, received a nearly $3 million grant to investigate how porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus evolves and spreads. The project was designed to help sci...
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Swine & U: University of Minnesota PRRS research (Part 2)

By Diane DeWitte, UMN Extension swine educator Originally printed in The LAND - as May 25, 2025 Swine & U column In the previous Swine & U article, we explored past University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine work related to the identification of Porcine Reproductive & Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) genomes and the studies which have laid the foundation for current work.   You may recall that Dr. Kim VanderWaal’s group in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine has been classifying PRRS virus genetics to better learn which viruses are related to each other, and therefore more thoroughly identify virus movement in PRRS outbreaks. Her team at the UMN, along with colleagues at Iowa State University and the USDA -ARS Virus & Prion Research Unit at the National Animal Disease Center at Ames, Iowa, recently published data from this study. One objective of this work has been the development of a fine-scale classification system which can be more easily u...
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Registration is open for Leman Conference

Join us for the 2025 Allen D. Leman Conference on September 20 - 23. Keynotes, breakouts and pre-conference sessions will cover a wide range of topics, including risks and opportunities in the changing economic landscape, how to move from pork supply focused to demand obsessed, health threats and disease mitigation strategies, policy changes in Washington deeply impacting swine production, gene-editing, biosecurity, product, artificial intelligence and so much more. Details are posted on the Leman Conference website . Be sure to register by August 15 to receive the early-bird registration. Leman Conference will be held at the Saint Paul RiverCentre. See Location and Accommodations for lodging information. Leman Conference is presented by the College of Veterinary Medicine and the University of Minnesota Extension.
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Registration is open for MN Nutrition Conference

The Minnesota Nutrition Conference is scheduled for September 17-18 at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center in Mankato, Minnesota. The Minnesota Nutrition Conference is a highly regarded and well-known livestock nutrition conference in the upper Midwest. This conference delivers leading-edge, research-based knowledge to advance the sustainable production of beef, dairy, poultry and swine. This annual event is presented by the Department of Animal Science and University of Minnesota Extension and is sponsored by the Minnesota feed industry. Conference registration is now open until September 5 for $225 per person. After September 5, registration goes up to $275 per person. See the Minnesota Nutrition Conference website for hotel information.
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