Swine Health Information Center American Association of Swine Veterinarians Webinar to Address Senecavirus A

Pork producers, veterinarians and other interested stakeholders are invited to participate in a webinar tomorrow that will look at the Senecavirus A situation in domestic pigs in the United States. The Swine Health Information Center and the American Association of Swine Veterinarians will host a webinar tomorrow from 1:00 to 2:30 pm central to address Senecavirus A as an emerging risk, due to its similarities to Foot-and-Mouth Disease.

Swine Health Information Center Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton explains, Senecavirus A was first identified in  the U.S. in the early 2000s and it has since spread across the U.S. and into other countries including Canada, Brazil and China.

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

SVA has clinical symptoms that include vesicles on the snout and coronary bands of pigs, also vesicles identified within the oral cavity.Animals can exhibit lameness and baby pigs can sometimes experience transient death loss. This virus can cause significant problems because it is not easy to distinguish between Foot-and-Mouth Disease virus or other vesicular diseases of swine such as DVS or Swine Vesicular disease and this can lead to an increased need for foreign animal disease investigations and diagnostics to confirm the presence or absence of a foreign animal disease such as Foot-and-Mouth Disease.

This is very critical because, while SVA would not shut down trade and it does impact animal health, the presence or mistaking SVA and having Foot-and-Mouth Disease virus instead would be extremely damaging to our industry and result in a complete stoppage of any trade in pork to other countries.

Dr. Becton says, while Senecavirus A is common in the U.S., recent studies have shown it has had a relatively low prevalence in sow populations but not much is known about the overall prevalence in all of the different age groups.Further information on Senecavirus A as well as a link to register for tomorrow's webinar can be accessed through SHIC's March eNewsletter at swinehealth.org.