Biocontainment of Disease Key to Long Term Swine Industry Viability

By Bruce Cochrane

An Alberta based swine veterinarian says western Canada's pork industry has done an excellent job of stepping up biosecurity to prevent disease and the next step is to take action to contain the spread of disease.

In response to the risk posed by Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea, Alberta Pork is preparing to introduce a biocontainment plan that would be tailored for each farm and triggered in the event PED is identified.

Dr. Kurt Preugschas, a veterinarian with Innovative Veterinary Services, who helped develop the plan, says the industry has done an excellent job of making biosecurity a priority, which is the most critical step, and if we can limit the number of farms infected by a disease, for example PED, through excellent biocontainment protocols this will ensure the long term viability of the industry.

Dr. Kurt Preugschas-Innovative Veterinary Services:
Some of the key steps include contacting your veterinarian immediately when a disease is suspected because an early diagnosis of course will give the best possible chance to minimize the spread of disease and maximize so that, I think, is the first critical step.
Other components include figuring out the epidemiology of the disease and how it got to your farm.

The other key component is to contact all service providers that would be in contact or may have visited your site.

I think open communication and collaboration with neighbors and industry about the health status of your farm and communicating that to prevent other farms from being affected is a very key component.

Other aspects include just overall increased biosecurity, traffic, transportation flows, entry protocols, how to deal with mass mortality and many other simple components that would go into a plan.

Dr. Preugschas says communication is the biggest aspect of the plan.

Anyone interested in participating or getting more information is encouraged to contact Alberta Pork.

Source: Farmscape