CWSHIN Encourages Producers to Request ASF Rule-Out Testing

The Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network is encouraging pork producers to ask their herd practitioners to request ASF rule-out testing in cases where symptoms might suggest African Swine Fever

by Bruce Cochrane – FarmScape Online

As part of Canada’s African Swine Fever surveillance efforts pork producers and swine veterinarians can request no charge ASF rule out testing.

Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network Manager Dr. Jette Christensen says Manitoba and British Columbia are doing well in terms of ASF rule-out testing but there seems to be a lack of rule-out testing in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

“The concern is that you want to detect it as early as possible so you won’t get into the situation where you’ve had African Swine Fever in your herd for a couple of weeks and you spread it to your neighbours and your contacts“

 

“The problem is that, at the very early stages in a herd, we expect it to be slow moving so there could be only a couple of animals that are affected with African Swine Fever and die but compared to the normal mortality you might not detect.

“It can be especially hard to detect if you have something else ongoing like a Step suis outbreak or you have erysipelas in your herd or a few other diseases.

“So that means that African Swine Fever can actually go undetected in these herds for a couple of weeks.

“But eventually African Swine Fever will spread to a large number of pigs in your herd and they will die so you can’t avoid it.

“If African Swine Fever is in the herd, sooner or later, probably later, you will detect it on mortality.

“So the concern is that you want to detect it as early as possible so you won’t get into the situation where you’ve had African Swine Fever in your herd for a couple of weeks and you spread it to your neighbours and your contacts.

“You really don’t want to get into that situation.”

Dr. Christensen says an ASF rule-out test will contribute to Canada’s ASF surveillance and is good for your own peace-of-mind.

She notes any actual suspicion of ASF must be reported to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.