A Veterinary Epidemiologist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development says a suspect positive PED sample identified in Saskatchewan highlights the importance of inspecting vehicles and equipment that visit the farm.
While tracking of PED in western Canada has found no new on farm cases since January, surveillance of high traffic sites did identify a suspect positive in Saskatchewan in February.
Dr. Julia Keenliside, a Veterinary Epidemiologist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, told those participating in a PED Telephone Town Hall Meeting hosted last week by Alberta Pork, the incident demonstrates the importance of vigilance.
They got a suspect PED from a trailer and that trailer had hauled pigs from Montana and it had come to Alberta and was washed in Alberta and then it went to a farm in Saskatchewan.
When it arrived at that farm in Saskatchewan the producer inspected the truck and trailer as he should and felt that it wasn’t clean enough and so he had it sampled and tested because he wasn’t happy with it and it was also rewashed.
It was that sample that tested suspect positive for PED.
What that means is that it was barley positive on the test.
It means that the virus was there or the protein from the virus was there but it was at a really really low level.
After the trailer was washed and resampled it did go back to Alberta and haul pigs there and it was washed again in Alberta before it moved on.
Our routine surveillance program also was sampling on the days that trailer came back to Alberta and the days that it was in the truck wash in Alberta.
Our samples were all negative and so that shows the value of our surveillance program for monitoring and early detection and it also shows the value of watching what trailers come to your farm and making sure they are tested if you think the wash job hasn’t been done properly.
Dr. Keenliside says this is a reminder that this virus can still move especially at this time of year.
