By Bruce Cochrane.
The Canadian Pork Council is encouraging pork producers to become more involved in and aware of national swine health programs to guard against the growing threat caused by PRRS.
PRRS virus creates respiratory and reproductive challenges in pigs causing significant mortality and morbidity and has been present in North America since about 1991 resulting in losses ranging from about 570 to 600 dollars per placed sow.
New more pathogenic and more transmissible strains have increased the threat.
Dr. Egan Brockhoff, the Veterinary Counsel with the Canadian Pork Council, says the level of virulence, how aggressive the virus is drives how infectious it is.
Clip-Dr. Egan Brockhoff-Canadian Pork Council:
In Canada we have definitely some aggressive strains of PRRS, some strains that are very devastating to farms and production.
Asia has what is referred to as high path PRRS.
It's an extremely aggressive form of PRRS and extremely devastating.
Again, in North America we have quite a range.
We have low path strains and very aggressive strains and, of course, our risk is that those high path strains could come across the water, affect the United States, affect Canada and really lead to a new level of devastation.
Producers should make sure they're involved with the Swine Health Intelligence Network.
They should make sure their veterinarians are working on the national surveillance system so we see changes happening out there.
They need to focus again on biosecurity, focus on audits, focus on training, making sure their people stay on point day after day, getting involved and communicating and understanding what's happening in the community with regional surveillance, national surveillance and recognizing through those different forms what's going on in the United States.
Dr. Brockhoff says PRRS is a highly complex virus that turns little mistakes into great opportunities.
Source: Farmscape