Incidents Of Seneca Valley Virus Down at Manitoba Assembly Yards But Virus Still Present

The Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network reports the number of positive Seneca Valley virus tests from Manitoba assembly yards has gone down but the virus is still present.

The Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network has released its swine health surveillance report for the second quarter of this year.CWSIN Manager Dr. Jette Christensen says disruptions of cull sow movements from Canada to the U.S. last summer due to Seneca Valley virus resulted in increased testing and stepped monitoring for the virus at assembly yards in Manitoba.

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

They do environmental samples and we can see on the data that the number of positives has gone down and so they're doing well but the assembly yards do still have some environmental samples that are positive so it's there.

The other consequence of last summer's disruption due to Seneca Valley virus on these assembly yards in Manitoba, is that they do more inspections at the assembly yards so they look for blisters which is the typical sign for Seneca Valley virus and within the last quarter there were actually a couple of cases where they did see healing blisters at the assembly yard.

So, it's absolutely important and critical for our Foot and Mouth surveillance and for our Seneca Valley virus and specifically for the early detection of these diseases that we do not want, to have practitioners look into blisters, to have producers call the vets when they see blisters.It's a complex investigation but it's really a benefit for all of us if we can get a number of cases investigated each year.

Dr. Christensen says blisters have several causes so she would like to see at least one blister case investigated each month.She encourages anyone, if you see blisters, call a veterinarian.