IPVS 2004 Scientific Program

On Monday afternoon, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning the programme will break up into parallel sessions grouped into 8 theme complexes:

                              1. Pig Health and Productivity,
                              2. Food Safety and Zoonoses,
                              3. Management and Housing,
                              4. Nutrition and Feeding,
                              5. Animal Welfare,
                              6. Environmental Stewardship,
                              7. Breeding and
                              8. The “Practitioners Line”.

The length of the parallel sessions, most of them will be subdivided into topical lines, will be determined by the number of submitted papers accepted as oral presentations.

Posters will also be grouped into theme complexes - they will be shown during the entire congress in the industry exposition area. Beverages and snacks will be served in the same area so that visiting industry partners, meeting congress participants and discussing posters become the “core” of the congress and the “glue” of the scientific programme.

Key Notes, Theme Complexes and Parallel Sessions:

Like previous IPVS congresses, the scientific programme of the 2004 congress is to provide cutting-edge information from invited speakers that are leaders in their fields of expertise. However, the 2004 program will give the highest priority to the exchange of experiences and own results between the congress participants through presenting and discussing submitted papers and posters as well as through the multitude of possibilities for „side-discussions“ in between the sessions and during the entire stay in Hamburg. Therefore, there will be only one key note per theme complex, which is to give a general overview on the current knowledge in the field of the topic. The key notes are thought to be a “tour d’horizon” about the area of the session in question so that a “that’s what we currently know” is the basis for the following presentations of new and emerging knowledge (submitted papers and posters) that will be discussed during the parallel sessions and at the poster exhibition.

Following a suggestion of our industry partners, there will not be any „industry session“, which would falsely „ear-tag“ valuable information on animal health products as „advertisement“. IPVS 2004 encourages scientific contributions from the sponsoring industry to be submitted as scientific papers and/or posters, which will be scrutinized and evaluated by the Scientific Committee for their scientific and informative value like any other submitted contributions. All accepted scientific papers and posters dealing with products and/or services will be assigned to the appropriate topical session.

1. Pig Health and Productivity (1 Key Note)
Systemic diseases, Respiratory Diseases, Reproductive Diseases, Enteric Diseases, Drugs and Medication, Disease Prevention and Control, Herd Health Programs, Immunity and Vaccination

2. Food Safety and Zoonoses (1 Key Note)
Pork and Food Borne Health Risks and Zoonoses, Food Hygiene, Pork Safety and Quality, Vertical Supply Chains and Traceability, Quality Management (QM) and Quality Assurance (QA) Systems, Auditing, certification and Good Veterinary Practice (GVP), Pre-harvest food safety and HACCP

3. Management and Housing (1 Key Note)
Production Systems, Housing and Production Hygiene, Biosecurity, Reproduction and Zootechnology, Alternative Husbandry, Data Recording and Analysis, Information Systems

4. Nutrition and Feeding (1 Key Note)
Nutrition and Health, Nutrition and Productivity, Feed and Feeding Systems, Residues and Food Safety and Quality

5. Environmental Stewardship (1 Key Note)
Manure Management, Emissions and Odor Control, Human Health Implications

6. Animal Welfare (1 Key Note)
Measurement of Well Being, Husbandry and Animal Welfare and Health, Behavioral Disorders, Transport and Slaughter

7. Breeding (1 Key Note)
Breeding and Performance, Breeding and Pork Quality, Breeding and Health

8. Practitioners line Chairpersons will initiate and moderate panel discussions between the presenters and the audience about “burning practice questions”

Swine herd health management; PRRS, PCV 2, Influenza, Mycoplasma, A.pp., Salmonella, E. coli etc.; Respiratory, enteric, and reproductive disorders; What a practitioner needs to know about laboratory diagnostics (which samples, how to ship samples, etc.); Housing systems and how to optimize the living conditions for the animals; Data recording, documentation, information; Software for veterinarians;

Work safety for veterinarians; Reports on successes and failures, etc. etc., will be the major topics of this session. The audience will have the possibility to hear authors of already in the other sessions presented oral papers and posters, with then the practical aspects of their messages being the focus and basis for the panel discussion between the presenter and the audience.

	IPVS 2004 Scientific Program ScopeStructure and Topics Scope of the Scientific Program: The first and foremost goal of the scientific program of IPVS 2004 is to keep up the longstanding tradition of IPVS being the only global meeting of veterinarians specialized in the veterinary aspects of swine disease (well known and new, emerging health threads) and to simultaneously deal with the recent societal changes that demand veterinarians and pork producers to think and act beyond just swine production and animal health. These emerging issues that the congress will also focus at additionally to its traditional topics are pork safety, animal welfare and environmental stewardship. The main motto of the 2004 congress is therefore: “Healthy Pigs for Wholesome Pork”. The second but likewise important goal of the scientific program of IPVS 2004 is to keep up the traditionally high scientific standard of IPVS and to simultaneously address the day-to-day needs of the practicing swine veterinarian by trying to offer as many take-home messages as possible. The „sub-motto“ of the congress is therefore: “Science Meets Practice”. For the first time, there will be a “Practitioners Line” at an IPVS Congress, which is to provide a special forum, at which practitioners will have the opportunity to meet with other practitioners, scientists, researchers, and consultants for discussing emerging issues of the practice and for sharing ideas on how to solve the every-day problems of today’s swine and pork production. Opening Ceremony and Scientific Plenary Session: There will be one stage-setting scientific plenary session for all participants on Monday, June 28, 2004 immediately after the opening ceremony with welcome addresses by e.g. the German Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection and Agriculture Renate Künast and the Mayor (Governor) of the City of Hamburg Ole von Beust and the official start of the scientific program. This plenary session will consist of three high profile invited plenary talks:
		1.The present food animal (pig) disease pattern and future develoments of food animal health, food safety and zoonoses. Special attention will be paid to emerging and re-emerging diseases, especially the potential role of pigs in the transmission of the HPAI virus and the suspected animal reservoir of the SARS virus) This paper will be given from the viewpoint of the O.I.E. (Office Internationale Epizooties, Paris), which has decided to extend its area of interest from just animal diseases to food safety and animal welfare, and which has been renamed as “World Organization for Animal Health”. Dr. Vallat, Director General of the O.I.E. accepted our invitation. 2.The impact of political and economic changes on pig and pork production extrapolated from the influence of the enlargement of the EU on the EU’s agriculture, animal disease prevention, food safety and animal welfare. Special attention will be paid to the measures that need to be taken to prevent the spread of notifiable diseases (O.I.E. List A and B diseases) from affected to disease-free areas. This paper will be given from the viewpoint of the European Commission. Juan Alvarez de la Puente, principal administrator in the sector pigmeat of DG Agriculture, accepted our invitation. 3.The present and future development of pig and pork production world-wide. Special attention will be paid on the impact of the increasing globalization of pig production and pork trade and its influence on the paradigm of swine veterinary medicine (productivity and economics, disease prevention, high health systems, food safety, quality assurance systems, animal welfare and environmental stewardship as major determinants of who will be the most competitive “winners”). Prof. Dr. Windhorst, Director of the Institute for Structural Research and Planning in Agricultural Intensive Areas, University of Vechta, Germany, accepted our invitation.
	Structure of the Scientific Programme: On Monday afternoon, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning the programme will break up into parallel sessions grouped into 8 theme complexes: 1. Pig Health and Productivity, 2. Food Safety and Zoonoses, 3. Management and Housing, 4. Nutrition and Feeding, 5. Animal Welfare, 6. Environmental Stewardship, 7. Breeding and 8. The “Practitioners Line”. The length of the parallel sessions, most of them will be subdivided into topical lines, will be determined by the number of submitted papers accepted as oral presentations. Posters will also be grouped into theme complexes - they will be shown during the entire congress in the industry exposition area. Beverages and snacks will be served in the same area so that visiting industry partners, meeting congress participants and discussing posters become the “core” of the congress and the “glue” of the scientific programme. Key Notes, Theme Complexes and Parallel Sessions: Like previous IPVS congresses, the scientific programme of the 2004 congress is to provide cutting-edge information from invited speakers that are leaders in their fields of expertise. However, the 2004 program will give the highest priority to the exchange of experiences and own results between the congress participants through presenting and discussing submitted papers and posters as well as through the multitude of possibilities for „side-discussions“ in between the sessions and during the entire stay in Hamburg. Therefore, there will be only one key note per theme complex, which is to give a general overview on the current knowledge in the field of the topic. The key notes are thought to be a “tour d’horizon” about the area of the session in question so that a “that’s what we currently know” is the basis for the following presentations of new and emerging knowledge (submitted papers and posters) that will be discussed during the parallel sessions and at the poster exhibition. Following a suggestion of our industry partners, there will not be any „industry session“, which would falsely „ear-tag“ valuable information on animal health products as „advertisement“. IPVS 2004 encourages scientific contributions from the sponsoring industry to be submitted as scientific papers and/or posters, which will be scrutinized and evaluated by the Scientific Committee for their scientific and informative value like any other submitted contributions. All accepted scientific papers and posters dealing with products and/or services will be assigned to the appropriate topical session. 1. Pig Health and Productivity (1 Key Note) Systemic diseases, Respiratory Diseases, Reproductive Diseases, Enteric Diseases, Drugs and Medication, Disease Prevention and Control, Herd Health Programs, Immunity and Vaccination 2. Food Safety and Zoonoses (1 Key Note) Pork and Food Borne Health Risks and Zoonoses, Food Hygiene, Pork Safety and Quality, Vertical Supply Chains and Traceability, Quality Management (QM) and Quality Assurance (QA) Systems, Auditing, certification and Good Veterinary Practice (GVP), Pre-harvest food safety and HACCP 3. Management and Housing (1 Key Note) Production Systems, Housing and Production Hygiene, Biosecurity, Reproduction and Zootechnology, Alternative Husbandry, Data Recording and Analysis, Information Systems 4. Nutrition and Feeding (1 Key Note) Nutrition and Health, Nutrition and Productivity, Feed and Feeding Systems, Residues and Food Safety and Quality 5. Environmental Stewardship (1 Key Note) Manure Management, Emissions and Odor Control, Human Health Implications 6. Animal Welfare (1 Key Note) Measurement of Well Being, Husbandry and Animal Welfare and Health, Behavioral Disorders, Transport and Slaughter 7. Breeding (1 Key Note) Breeding and Performance, Breeding and Pork Quality, Breeding and Health 8. Practitioners line Chairpersons will initiate and moderate panel discussions between the presenters and the audience about “burning practice questions” Swine herd health management; PRRS, PCV 2, Influenza, Mycoplasma, A.pp., Salmonella, E. coli etc.; Respiratory, enteric, and reproductive disorders; What a practitioner needs to know about laboratory diagnostics (which samples, how to ship samples, etc.); Housing systems and how to optimize the living conditions for the animals; Data recording, documentation, information; Software for veterinarians; Work safety for veterinarians; Reports on successes and failures, etc. etc., will be the major topics of this session. The audience will have the possibility to hear authors of already in the other sessions presented oral papers and posters, with then the practical aspects of their messages being the focus and basis for the panel discussion between the presenter and the audience.