CWSHIN Reports Exceptionally Quiet First Quarter for Swine Disease

The Manager of the Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network reports the first quarter of 2021 was one of the quietest quarters ever in terms of infections in swine herds. The Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network has released its report on Swine Health Surveillance for the 1st Quarter 2021, January to March.

CWSHIN Manager Dr. Jette Christensen says surveillance sources reported a "quiet quarter" with "nothing to report" which indicates the general swine health was good.

Clip-Dr. Jette Christensen-Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network:

We can not say with any certainty exactly what caused this quiet quarter but this winter has been different in many ways due to COVID and it's not unreasonable to think that some of the restrictions that are put into place for COVID have made movement and contact between herds less than they would normally be. Also, the whole mindset around COVID has made everybody, not only producers and veterinarians but everybody more conscious about biosecurity.

I think there's no one in Canada anymore that doesn't know a little bit more about biosecurity than we did two years ago so I think that might have contributed to this quiet quarter. A lot less contact between farms might be one of the reasons but it's only speculation.

The other thing we know is that, from the human side there has been less influenza so the COVID restrictions work on the people to people spread of influenza and it may also spill over in that people are not transferring disease into swine herds. So, generally I think what lies behind this is a massive improvement in biosecurity across the whole region.