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Chinese pseudorabies strain more deadly to pigs
Officials say a Chinese strain of pseudorabies is more deadly to pigs than what was common in the U.S. more than a quarter century ago.
Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg says the strain of pseudorabies in China differs genetically from the strain that challenged the U.S. pork industry in the 1980s.
“That difference in genetics probably is leading to a real difference in pathogenicity and the ability of this virus to infect and kill pigs,” said Sundberg during an interview with Brownfield Ag News at the Iowa Pork Congress in Des Moines Wednesday.
Sundberg says SHIC is doing risk assessments for Chinese pseudorabies.
“So we can try to find the spots where that virus is likely to get in and see if we can plug that hole,” he said.
There is a bit of good news regarding the testing for the Chinese pseudorabies strain.
“The diagnostics to be able to detect this new virus are the same as those diagnostics we used before, so that’s a good thing,” said Sundberg. “Our expectation is should it get here, we’ll be able to find it quickly.”
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