Just since January, diagnostic labs from across the country have already reported more than 60 accessions positive for Seneca Valley Virus or Senecavirus A (Figure 1). We don’t know from this data if each accession is a new case or a continuation of testing from an existing case. But this clearly shows that the disease is far from gone and underscores the critical need for all cases of vesicular lesions or suspect coronary band or interdigital lesions to be reported to state or federal animal health officials. Since these vesicular diseases are indistinguishable from FMD, complacency or apathy in reporting is not acceptable and could result in terrible consequences for our domestic swine industry.
Of course, the biggest concern regarding SVV is that when clinical signs are present, they’re indistinguishable from those of swine vesicular disease (SVD), vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), all more serious and economically devastating foreign animal diseases (FADs) than SVV. Erosions, ulcerations, and vesicular lesions of the snout, oral mucosa, and distal limbs, especially in the interdigital space and around the coronary band, may be observed. In some cases, lifting the leg to carefully examine the interdigital space has been needed to identify lesions, especially in the early stages of the disease. Lameness may be the presenting clinical sign, as well as more general symptoms of illness such as fever, lethargy, and anorexia.
A full series of webinars reporting on SVV research funded by the Swine Health Information Center and other sources (including length of shedding, effective disinfection, epi investigations and a case study of herd closure to eliminate the virus) and the latest on USDA guidance for investigation and responses are available on the SHIC website, http://www.swinehealth.org. Also on the website are fact sheets on SVV and other Swine Disease Matrix viruses.
Source: AASV