Canadian operations on the lookout after increased American reports of the disease
By Kaitlynn Anderson
Staff Reporter
Farms.com
Pork producers who have direct contact with trucks coming from the United States should be on the lookout for animals with signs of Seneca Valley Virus, according to a Farmscape interview today.
While Canadian packing plants have not yet reported any cases of the virus, U.S. slaughter plants have seen an increasing number of infected pigs.
In fact, the number of cases increased from 200 in the U.S. in 2015 to 300 simply in the state of Wisconsin in 2017, Dr. Julia Keenliside, a veterinary epidemiologist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, told Farmscape.
The disease tends to be more prominent in the American Midwest, where pigs are often being transported, she said.
Even though the animals may not show any signs of infection when they leave the farm, they still may carry the disease.
“When the (pigs) get to the plant, or after they've been in lairage, … blisters (may appear) at the junction where the skin and the hoof wall meet,” Keenliside said in the interview.
The animals may also have blisters around the “junction of the disc of the snout and where the haired part joins the naked part of the snout,” she added.
Any lesions on the haired parts of pigs’ bodies are not likely caused by the Seneca Valley Virus.
Infected pigs may also be lame, off feed or have a fever, she said.
Producers “should report any suspicious lesions to their veterinarians,” Keenliside advised.
For more information on Seneca Valley Virus, producers can read this summary from the Swine Health Information Center.
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