Leptospirosis can also cause disease in livestock, while dogs can be infected by swine brucellosis, which has been diagnosed recently in several dogs at Mudgee and Blayney. 

Central Tablelands Local Land Services is calling for help from landholders who are trapping feral pigs and would like to know one to two weeks before traps are set.

Vets and biosecurity staff will, with landholder permission, then take blood samples from trapped pigs to test for the presence of the diseases.

Local Land Services Veterinarian Nigel Gillan said the recent diagnoses in dogs could be explained by an increase in testing, or by a change in prevalence in the feral pig population and the results from the disease surveillance research would help to shed light on this.

"We don't have good data on the prevalence of these diseases in feral pigs in the Central Tablelands region," Mr Gillan said.

Landholders who take part in the project will be sent the test results for the pigs trapped on their property.

"We're hoping the results of this surveillance project will help farmers and pig hunters, the people most likely to come into contact with feral pigs, to assess and minimise the health risks associated with these diseases," Mr Gillan said.

According to Local Land Services, leptospirosis and swine brucellosis infection in humans can cause serious and life threatening symptoms.

Leptospirosis can also cause illness and abortions in cattle, while dogs can become infected with swine brucellosis if exposed to the bacteria while hunting, or if fed raw feral pig meat.