PRRS Coordinated Agricultural Project
The control and elimination of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) will alleviate a major source of economic loss and animal suffering. The impact of PRRS is approximately $600 million in losses each year to U.S. producers. For this reason, USDA funded the PRRS CAP that enabled the collective talents of scientists, veterinarians, producers, and allied industry researchers to develop innovative strategies for the control and eventual elimination of PRRS in the U.S. The recent appearance of highly pathogenic PRRS in Asia and its potential threat to U.S. swine herds brings a new sense of urgency to this project. The activities supported by the CAP are the result of extensive stakeholder input and, when integrated into a logic model, identify well-focused outcomes and impacts as well as a detailed road map for the control and elimination of PRRS. Objectives 1 through 3 are dedicated to the development of tools and knowledge and include investigations of vaccines/immunity, epidemiology/ecology and host genetics. Objective 4, Extension, is focused on projects and ideas directed at eliminating PRRS from farms and regions. And finally, Objective 5 encompasses active education and outreach programs. In coordination with the National Pork Board, which provides significant infrastructure support, the CAP is actively managed by a stakeholder board in coordination with a project director, co-project directors and a diverse group of PRRSV research scientists and stakeholders.
Link to PRRS CAP Proposal
The PRRS CAP goal is to develop tools and deliverable knowledge that will reduce both animal suffering and economic losses to producers and society through the control and/or elimination of the PRRS virus.
