The Iowa pork industry will learn in a few weeks if the state has succeeded in containing an April outbreak of pseudorabies, the first case detected in a U.S. commercial hog operation in 22 years.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said Wednesday, June 3, at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines that he hopes the testing, slated to occur in mid-June, will provide “a final bookend” to the outbreak.
The state announced May 1 that five sows transported from Texas to an Iowa farm tested positive for the highly contagious disease. Federal officials traced the virus to the Texas farm where the pigs were housed outdoors and likely came into contact with feral pigs that can carry the disease.
About 100 pigs in the Iowa facility were destroyed to prevent the disease’s spread.
Naig said Wednesday that veterinarians will test pigs housed within 2 miles of the facility on June 12, which marks 30 days after the infected facility was cleaned and disinfected. Officials immediately after the outbreak tested pigs in 32 herds within 5 miles of the facility.
Those herds included everything from kids’ 4-H pig projects to pet potbellied pigs and commercial operations, said Pat McGonegle, CEO of the Iowa Pork Producers Association. “That’s typical of Iowa,” he said.
Naig said the state should hear quickly if the virus has been contained ― potentially as soon as the same day the tests are conducted.
He said he believed the outbreak’s impact on trade was minimal, but added it could have become extensive had “this spread beyond one site (and) had we not been able to address the site as quickly as we did.”
Naig said state and federal government officials and the pork industry will evaluate the response to the outbreak — as well as how the infected pigs made it into Iowa.
States require health certificates for pigs before they’re moved across state lines, said Anna Forseth, director of animal health for the National Pork Producers. That’s important because some southern U.S. states have large feral pig populations that remain a disease threat to commercial hog operations, Forseth and others said.
Naig said the state “will look at those import requirements and testing requirements — one, investigating exactly what happened with this particular case, but two, that will inform whether or not we need to look at some additional rule changes on our part.”
Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Rare hog pseudorabies case puts Iowa’s safeguards to the test
Reporting by Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
