A Swine Health Information Center-American Association of Swine Veterinarians webinar planned for tomorrow afternoon will update pork producers and their veterinarians on New World Screwworm and action underway to eradicate the parasite. On June 3rd USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed the detection of New World Screwworm, a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, in a 3-week-old calf in Texas.
The Swine Health Information Center, in collaboration with the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, will host a webinar tomorrow which will examine New World Screwworm. SHIC Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says the webinar is intended to prepare producers in the event that New World Screwworm should be found in their state or in their herds.
Quote-Dr. Lisa Becton-Swine Health Information Center:
The purpose of the webinar is to continue to provide pork producers, their veterinarians and other interested stakeholders key information on USDA response strategies, treatment options and management and control of New World Screwworm, including insights on how Texas is experiencing and managing New World Screwworm. We will have experts from USDA, the Food and Drug Administration, EPA, and Texas.
There will be a review of the USDA response playbook as it relates to pork production. There will also be a review of treatment options from both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as EPA, which really is going to cover where the information is located for treatments and how they are approved for use, as well as who is authorized to use these products.
And then lastly, there will be insights provided on actual boots on the ground response in Texas.Both USDA and the Texas Animal Health Commission have a very active program to detect and treat any cases that are identified as rapidly as possible.There is concern that New World Screwworm could move within wildlife, so there is active surveillance of wildlife populations in areas of concern, especially located at the border.
A registration link for the August 4th webinar as well as additional resources for addressing New World Screwworm can be found at swinehealth.org.
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Source : Farmscape.ca