Number of PED cases in Ontario begins to mount
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
UPDATE: Thurs. Feb. 6 2014:
There is another confirmed PED case in Ontario. This one's in Perth and is a farrow to finish. It was confirmed today - Feb. 6. So far is a total of nine cases - six on farrow to finish and three on wean to finish. This is the second one in Perth. BF
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by SUSAN MANN
As the number of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus cases mount in Ontario, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is beginning to receive import applications from veterinarians for the only vaccine known to counter some of its effects.
“There is a great deal of interest in the iPED+ vaccine,” CFIA spokesperson Rachel Burdman says by email. Veterinarians have started making arrangements with the vaccine manufacturer, Harrisvaccines of Ames, Iowa, to acquire it and so far, the agency has received two import permit applications for it.
“Once CFIA receives the production information and quality control test results from the manufacturer, imports permits will be issued to the veterinarians who have applied for the vaccine,” she says.
But CFIA cautions farmers to maintain strict biosecurity measures regardless of whether they use the vaccine or not. Veterinarians in Ontario and Alberta have also cautioned that while the vaccine can reduce the amount of viral shed in herds where it is endemic, it can’t prevent an outbreak.
In Ontario, the virus is now confirmed on eight farms. The three newest cases are: a Chatham Kent farrow to finish operation confirmed Tuesday and two farrow to finish operations, one in Perth County, the other in Wellington County, confirmed today. Five of the eight cases are on farrow to finish operations; the others are on wean to finish operations.
Chatham Kent has three cases. The other cases are in Middlesex, Norfolk, Simcoe and Perth. The virus was also found at an assembly yard on Jan. 25, trucking yards on Jan. 28 and a processing plant on Jan. 29.
Mark Cripps, a spokesperson with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, estimates thousands of piglets have died on Ontario farms since it was found in the province for the first time Jan. 22. However, Cripps points out in an email today that older animals can recover and, “in fact, some are recovering on affected farms.”
New strain of PED found
In other PED news, the news agency Reuters is reporting Iowa State University scientists have found a new strain of PED virus from samples taken in Illinois and Missouri. Those states are among the 23 American states where PED has spread since first showing up in the pig herd last spring.
Iowa State University researchers say more work needs to be done to determine if the new strain is a mutation or a different introduction of the original virus.
PED is a viral disease causing vomiting and diarrhea in pigs. The virus doesn’t affect food safety and poses no risk to human health or other animals except for pigs. Pork is still a safe choice for consumers to eat.
On farms, the virus wipes out almost all nursing piglets, while older pigs get widespread diarrhea but can recover.
Swine health management specialist Robert Friendship, a professor in the department of population medicine at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College, says “I don’t think it (the finding of a new PED strain in the United States) has much implications for us.” But it depends on “what they find of course.”
Friendship says he also read the article and one of his first thoughts is the virus probably didn’t have time to mutate since it was first introduced in the United States. That might mean two different virus stains were introduced there rather than just the one.
There’s speculation in the United States the virus found its way there through a type of feed product. “Some kind of feed product was contaminated, not just with one (virus strain) but with two,” or possibly two separate batches were contaminated, he says.
Another possibility is the virus did actually manage to mutate in “a very short period of time” into two distinct kinds of viruses with one being as bad as the other, he says.
Biosecurity efforts encompass all aspects of the industry
In Ontario, Cripps says the ministry is continuing to check all kinds of locations for the virus based on movements on and off the farms confirmed to be PED positive. “They (ministry staff) are swabbing everything,” Cripps says. Ministry officials are trying to get a handle on how spread out PED virus is in Ontario.
As for processors, the Ontario agriculture ministry organized a special meeting for them held Saturday in Guelph to update them on the province’s situation, give biosecurity information and answer questions. About 50 people from processing companies attended, Cripps says.
He says the ministry’s sense is there’s a heightened awareness among processors of the need for good biosecurity.
Laurie Nicol, executive director of the Ontario Independent Meat Processors, says Ontario was positioned and ready to respond to the introduction of PED virus in the province and a lot of information has been provided throughout the supply chain. “Our plants are kept up-to-date on what’s happening.”
Last week, the federal and Ontario government announced a new funding stream under the national agricultural policy framework, Growing Forward 2, to give hog farmers, truckers, abattoirs, assembly yard and rendering service providers access to funds for projects to enhance their biosecurity. The program is being administered by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association.
Program guides, application forms and information are up the association’s website.
Cripps says anyone that applied or was in the process of applying for biosecurity project funding before PED virus was confirmed in Ontario “will get moved into this funding stream.”
Nicol says the government funding “is an opportunity for our processors to review and put in applications to enhance their biosecurity protocols at the plant.” Now is a good time for processing plants to review biosecurity protocols, she adds, because there is a significant amount of expertise out there currently.
Cripps says the Growing Forward 2 PED biosecurity funding pays for 75 per cent of the project’s costs, while the applicant pays the remaining 25 per cent. People completing eligible projects (retroactive to April 1, 2013 and going until Oct. 31, 2014) can get funding.
Here are some examples of projects eligible for funding:
- construction or modification of transition areas,
- facility flow in trucking or traffic management,
- mortality management,
- cleaning and disinfecting items
Cripps says for truckers’ facility flow, one of the projects could include biosecurity risk assessments completed by a veterinarian. Other eligible projects in other parts of the industry include modifications to existing structures to facilitate more efficient movement of people and animals to reduce biosecurity risks or the purchase and installation of equipment, such as feed blower pipes, to reduce cross contamination of pigs by visitors and service providers.
Other provinces require PED reporting
While PED virus isn’t a reportable disease to the federal government some provinces are taking steps to ensure the virus is closely tracked. Last month, Alberta made it mandatory for all cases of suspected or confirmed PED virus to be reported to that province’s chief veterinarian. Quebec is also leaning in the direction of making PED a mandatory reported disease, Cripps says.
Cripps says the current reporting system in Ontario is robust and effective. The province’s Animal Health Act requires veterinarians to immediately report any significant herd health changes to the agriculture ministry.
“It seems like our system is working really well,” he says, pointing out that it enabled ministry officials to find PED virus cases in the province quickly. But “we have to look at the other options as well.”
As for truckers, Steve Laskowski, vice president of the Ontario Trucking Association, says their members “are doing what they’ve always been doing, which is making sure they sanitize their trailers before and after pick up.”
But it’s up to those who are contracting a trucker to ask questions about the trucker’s practices involving the care and treatment of their trailers and what type of cleaning and disinfecting facilities they have. Some trucking companies have made the $500,000 to $1 million investment to “develop wash racks to keep their trailers clean and also sanitary to help prevent the spread of these diseases,” while other companies have contacts with mobile wash facilities, he says.
Not every trucking company washes and disinfects their trucks and those that don’t “are part of the problem,” he says.
Trucking association members are encouraged “that the minister of agriculture and premier is involved in this issue,” he says. But government funding should be earmarked “to educating everybody in the supply chain in terms of what needs to be done and what type of equipment should be utilized.” BF