Farmscape for January 29, 2020

The Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center says the most effective first step in controlling Strep zoo in pigs, as with any infection, is to get a professional diagnosis when ever there is a mortality.
Streptococcus zooepidemicus is a bacterial infection that has been linked to the sudden deaths of pigs in Canada and the U.S.
Last month in Pennsylvania the infection was designated as a dangerous transmissible disease giving the Agriculture Department the authority to monitor the domestic animal population to determine the prevalence, incidence and location of the infection.
Dr. Paul Sundberg, the Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center, says the recommendations for Strep are no different than recommendations for other diseases.

Clip-Dr. Paul Sundberg-Swine Health Information Center:
The first thing that you want to do when a mortality event happens, whether it's in an assembly point or whether it's on the farm, is you want to get professional advice and professional opinion on what caused the mortality so you can approach it in an educated manner.
Don't assume that you know what you have.
That's the same thing for Step zoo as it is for African Swine Fever or Foot and Mouth Disease or PRRS or any other disease.
Get a professional diagnosis.
From that point on then you can act in an informed manner.
For Strep zoo, for example, that includes steps for cleaning and disinfecting.
There are recommendations about cleaning and disinfecting from USDA and those are readily available and resources on the Swine Health Information Center web site can point producers or assembly sites to that.
There are steps but those steps have to begin with being informed and that means taking action any time there is a mortality event.
Make sure you know what's the cause and that will help direct the response.

Dr. Sundberg stresses this is an animal health issue, not a food safety issue so pork products are not a risk.
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Bruce Cochrane.

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