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Pseudorabies-positive hogs won’t jeopardize state’s PRV-free status
The discovery of pseudorabies (PRV) in a Calloway County, Missouri swine herd won’t affect the state’s pseudorabies-free status. Missouri State Veterinarian Dr. Linda Hickam tells Brownfield the positive blood test in the 100-hog herd is the result of possible exposure to pseudorabies-positive feral hogs.
“Feral swine have been documented to be endemic with pseudorabies, so therefore if there’s a connection to feral swine then that doesn’t impact our free status even if we would have had a confirmed case with the virus being isolated,” said Dr. Hickam.
Missouri Pork Association Executive Director Don Nikodim tells Brownfield he’s grateful for the way the situation was handled, because pseudorabies-free status allows pig movement to other states.
“For example, we net export about 4 million pigs to other states for finishing,” said Nikodim Tuesday, “and if we can’t move those pigs that becomes a huge, huge issue because we don’t have finishing facilities here to deal with all those.”
Dr. Hickam says the swine herd was tested and depopulated as a precaution because of its proximity to where a pseudorabies-positive feral pig was discovered in Calloway County.
She says the producer doesn’t have contact with other swine, but if he did, she says biosecurity protocols would be implemented.
“We don’t want our status to be impacted, we don’t want our swine industry to be impacted, and we don’t want the disease to spread if in fact there would be a virus there,” said Hickam, “so we simply depopulated it.”
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