The Canadian Swine Health Board says new tools developed since 2005 in the wake of Porcine Circovirus are proving valuable in addressing Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea.
Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea was identified in the U.S. in mid-May and it has spread to 16 states affecting over 250 sites.
Canadian Swine Health Board chair Florian Possberg notes the CSHB is working closely with the National Pork Board, the National Pork Producers Council and the American Association of Swine Veterinarians to understand the disease, how it spreads and why it’s spreading at a time of the year when typically we wouldn’t expect it to.
To date we’ve been tracking through our Canadian Swine Health Intelligence Network and we know at this point anyway we’re free and clear of this disease.
As well feedback from pathology labs and other sources indicate that likely we are free and we’re making every effort to keep it that way.
We are concerned about trucks taking animals into the U.S. coming back.
We want to make sure that they are properly washed and sanitized so they’re not going to bring back disease.
We’re asking all producers to really heighten their biosecurity on farm and equipment, trucks and so on coming to their farms to prevent this very serious disease from affecting them.
Possberg acknowledges the Canadian pork industry wasn’t well prepared when Circovirus hit in 2005.
However, he says, we do have new tools including a national swine disease surveillance system and a lot of time and effort has gone into working with producers on their on farm biosecurity.
