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A team of researchers at Kansas State University, the University of Missouri and global agricultural biotechnology company Genus plc has developed pigs that are resistant to the most devastating disease in the swine industry, PRRS.
The resistant pigs lack the CD 163 protein and showed no signs or evidence of being infected with the PRRS virus. The pigs will need to undergo further testing and evaluation before they become available.
The discovery of PRRS-resistant pigs could significantly improve animal well-being and save hundreds of millions of dollars each year, said Raymond "Bob" Rowland, professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University, and one of the researchers involved in the discovery.
"In the decades that we have had the PRRS virus, we have looked at vaccines, diagnostics and other strategies and we have never been able to eliminate the disease," Rowland said. "This is the first time that we have established the potential to eliminate this devastating disease."
Tuesday December 8, 2015/ Kansas State University/ United States.
http://www.k-state.edu
