Source: Manitoba Pork
Manitoba’s Chief Veterinary Officer confirmed positive test results for porcine epidemic diarrhea virus from a sow operation in southeast Manitoba, bringing the PEDV cases to 11. The CVO has activated Manitoba Agriculture’s Emergency Operation Centre to assist the affected producer and conduct a full disease investigation. Control measures were implemented immediately, and a plan has been developed for restricted site access, barn clean-up and animal care. Producers within a five kilometer radius of the infected site have been alerted, and are monitoring their herds and collecting samples for testing. All swine veterinarians with producer-clients in the region have been notified of the site’s location so that those producers are aware of the disease potential.

Sharing of the site location information was made possible by the affected producer voluntarily providing permission to his herd veterinarian to share the information at his discretion with Manitoba Pork and other swine veterinarians through signing this Sharing of Information Waiver. Providing this permission through the waiver allows the CVO and Manitoba Pork to assist the producer in a more comprehensive and timely manner, while concurrently protecting the broader pork industry. Manitoba Pork urges all producers to sign the waiver with their veterinarian — and encourages all veterinarians to ask their clients to sign it and keep it on file — ahead of a disease outbreak.

Increase your biosecurity, prevent PEDV
With a new case of PEDV in Manitoba, producers should take this opportunity to review and further strengthen their biosecurity practices, paying particular attention to the following.
• Ensure that the trailers you allow on your farm have been thoroughly washed, disinfected and dried.
• Exercise extreme vigilance with trailers coming back from assembly yards (known hotbeds for all swine diseases) and other major collection points.
• Ensure that people coming onto your site follow strict biosecurity guidelines, with only essential service people being allowed into the yard and preferably parking outside of it if possible.
• For trailers returning from the United States, request that a second wash and a complete dry be done in Canada at a trusted facility.
• All producers are encouraged to work with their veterinarian to review their biosecurity plans and ensure that their herds have the best practical protection from PEDV and other diseases.

Check out Manitoba Pork’s PEDV webpages. For biosecurity and animal care issues, contact Mark Fynn, manager of Quality Assurance and Animal Care Programs at Manitoba Pork, at 204-235-2302 or [email protected].