The manager of the Canadian Swine Health Intelligence Network reports, with the exception of one new case reported in the past month, the PED status in Canada has remained stable.
With the exception of one new case of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea, reported this week in a farrow to finish farm in Perth County, Ontario, there have been no new cases reported in Canada since mid-June.
Efforts in Ontario to eliminate the virus were discussed recently as part of a PED summit hosted by the Ontario Swine Health Advisory Board and Southwest Ontario Veterinary Services.
Dr. Chris Byra, the manager of the Canadian Swine Health Intelligence Network, says because the virus is less viable in the summer we have the opportunity to begin the elimination programs underway in Ontario.
They’ve expanded their ARC and E programs, the area regional control and elimination programs, that were organized for PRRS initially to include PED and these groups then disclose their health status to all the others in the group and they discuss what’s working, what isn’t and they use the group as a means to build support for the changes that they’re doing on the farm to get rid of the disease.
At the same summit then they discussed herds that are on the way to eliminating the disease, those that have already succeeded.
Some of the nursery and finisher barns are already free of PED at this point and many of the farms, particularly from this one veterinary practice, almost all the farms are now a part of these elimination programs that are underway in Ontario and this is the time of year that it’s easier to do because the virus doesn’t survive well once it’s dry and warm.
Once it’s cooled off then that’s going to become more difficult to succeed with so the goal of the people working with these farms is to have these farms free of it by October.
Dr. Byra says American systems have been able to eliminate the virus in almost all cases but he warns it doesn’t take much of an error in disinfection to allow the virus to survive and reinfect so you have to do a very good job.
