The U.S. classical swine fever surveillance program includes:

• A. Running serologic tests on all imported cattle and pigs regardless of the country of origin.
• B. Testing for CSF in tissue submitted from certain targeted populations of pigs, such as sick pigs submitted to a veterinary diagnostic laboratory and feral swine collected by Wildlife Services.
• C. Testing for CSF virus in each liver sample submitted from pigs in high risk states
• D. Sampling of 85% of pigs sent to slaughter

Answer: (B)

Classical swine fever surveillance in the United States uses a risk-based, targeted approach. The program focuses testing on tissue from pigs that are sick or otherwise submitted to a veterinary diagnostic laboratory, and on feral swine collected by Wildlife Services. This strategy leverages existing diagnostic pathways and concentrates resources where disease signals are most likely to appear, allowing for early detection of incursion without the impracticality of broad universal testing.

Testing every liver sample or sampling a large percentage of pigs destined for slaughter would be logistically and financially prohibitive and unlikely to improve early detection. Likewise, screening all imported cattle and pigs regardless of origin isn’t how the U.S. CSF surveillance program operates, since risk-based, targeted sampling among high-priority populations provides the most efficient use of surveillance resources.