The Manager of Swine Health Programs with Manitoba Pork says lessons learned from the PED outbreak last year have been a significant factor in helping contain an outbreak that broke this spring.
Last year 80 swine sites in Manitoba became infected by Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea.
The first case in 2018 was confirmed May 15th and so far a total of 10 cases have been identified with the latest case confirmed last Thursday,
Jenelle Hamblin, the Manager of Swine Health Programs with Manitoba Pork, says having dealt with the infection last year stakeholders have had a good sense of how to manage things.
I think we’ve done a really great job containing the virus this time around. I think that has a lot to do with our experience from 2017, knowing what to look for, knowing how to work in this scenario, everywhere from the CVO level, MPC level, herd veterinarian level to producer manager level, knowing what the signs are and what proper biosecurity practices should be in place.
Having 10 cases versus 80 last year, I think that we’ve learned a lot in terms of how we move those animals around, limiting those number of movements, how we interact with people coming onto our facilities, onto our premises. I think that that’s really played a big part in limiting the spread in 2018.
Last year we saw some sites break thinking that we were moving animals that were recovered and we later learned that those animals were shedding virus for much longer than we expected and therefore infecting downstream premises. This year we didn’t do that. We knew that if these animals were infected they potentially could be shedding for a long period of time. That I think was also a big lesson we took away from 2017.
~ Jenelle Hamblin, Manitoba Pork
Hamblin applauds the efforts the swine sector including everyone at the CVO office who have been working hard to monitor, track and trace back these cases and the diligence of producers and veterinarians in stepping up and maintaining biosecurity.
