Action to Protect Against Entry of Foreign Animals Disease Also Help Prevent Entry of Endemic Disease

The Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center says steps taken every day to protect North American swine herds from the introduction of foreign animal disease will also help prevent the entry of endemic diseases into the herd.As part of its September eNewsletter the Swine Health Information Center has released its monthly global and domestic swine health monitoring reports.

SHIC Executive Director Dr. Lisa Becton says globally a new Fox Parvo virus was found in Belgium swine and in the Netherlands that does have clinical implications for pigs, Latin America is focusing on efforts to both control and eliminate Classical Swine Fever and African Swine Fever continues to be active in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland as well as in Asia and Africa.

Quote-Dr. Lisa Becton-Swine Health Information Center:

Because African swine fever is still quite active and there exist threats from wild boar, concerns really do center on maintenance of biosecurity to reduce transmission risks.Because we are also seeing the virus enter commercial herds, this is a concern because in many instances it is unknown how the virus got into commercial herds.

But it's important to focus on things that can be monitored, such as prevent contact with wild boar, don't feed garbage to animals, look at where you purchase ingredient sourcing and ensure that you have adequate precautions if products are coming from countries that are ASF positive.It is important to be aware what is occurring globally, because a lot of our trade both within supplies as well as feed ingredients, come from overseas and from potential countries that are ASF positive.

It's always important to note that when looking at feed ingredient sourcing but it's also equally important just to focus on everyday practices and implementation of sound biosecurity, because this doesn't only impact and benefit farms for foreign animal diseases, but it also provides benefit on a daily basis to prevent other endemic diseases from entering into your herd.

The Swine Health Information Center's global and domestic swine health monitoring reports can be accessed at swinehealth.org.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.