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Pig Health Featured Articles
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Eradication of PRRS
By the University of Minnesota Swine Extension - At this time, elimination of PRRS virus from infected farms is possible by 4 primary methods.- Whole herd-depopulation/repopulation
- Test and removal
- Herd closure and rollover
- Production of negative pigs from positive sows
1. Whole herd depopulation repopulation
Advantages:
- High degree of efficacy
- Solves multiple disease problems at the same time
- Results in genetic improvement
- Vast experience of veterinary industry
- Costly
- Requires multiple sites for off-site breeding of new clean stock and finishing out of diseased pigs
- Re-infection can occur during repopulation process
2. Test and Removal
Advantages:
- High degree of efficacy
- Low risk, due to speed of the testing process
- Testing cost can be high if ELISA and PCR are used to test sera
- Requires removal of exposed breeding animals
- Feasible only in herds with low (<10%) seroprevalence in breeding herd
3. Herd closure and rollover
Advantages:
- Initial efficacy appears promising
- Does not require excessive testing or removal of breeding animals
- Requires off site breeding facilities
- Requires a long time to complete
- Relies on consistent natural exposure of all replacement gilts and a lack of PRRSV transmission in the breeding herd over time.
- Questionable if this can be accomplished in all cases.
4. Production of negative pigs from positive sows
Advantages:
- Preserves genetics
- Can improve overall health status of offspring through the use of medication or specific vaccinations
- Improvements in health and performance of offspring can be significant
- Transmission of PRRSV from dam to offspring can result in production of infected batches of weaners
