Manitoba Pork reports all but four of the 80 Manitoba swine sites infected during a 2017 Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea outbreak have now reached or are close to reaching a presumptive negative status.
A total of 80 swine premises across southeastern Manitoba were affected by a Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea outbreak that began in April of last year.
Jenelle Hamblin, the Manager of Swine Health Programs with Manitoba Pork, told those on hand last week in Winnipeg for the 2018 Manitoba Pork Annual General Meeting the number of new infections peaked during June and July before tapering off with the last cases being reported toward the end of October.
The eradication of the virus from the premises that were infected has gone extremely well. Currently, of the 80 infected premises, we’re sitting at 64 of which that have reached presumptive negative status meaning that their animals and their contact areas, the barn itself, have all tested negative for the virus. Of course, with the exclusion of the manure storage, which is why we call it that presumptive negative status.
We are sitting currently at 12 at the transitional status, meaning they have removed all previously infected animals from their site and are working to clean and test to reach that presumptive negative status. Lastly we remain at four premises that remain positive. We are very pleased with the eradication efforts that the sector as a whole has put into place and I would just like to applaud them for those efforts.
~ Jenelle Hamblin, Manitoba Pork
Hamblin says the success of the eradication effort comes down to that high level of biosecurity at the restricted access zone, right at the barn level, as well as segregation of the infected operations including everything from people to equipment. She says awareness of the risks across the sector at the barn level, at the transport level, at that abattoir where biosecurity has been increased and improved, was a huge factor in helping eradicate this disease.
