The results mean that the state will maintain its pseudorabies-free trade status and the final quarantine will be lifted. In addition, it’s expected that California, Kansas and Michigan will lift import restrictions on swine from Wisconsin.

“We’re happy to put this behind us,” said State Veterinarian Dr. Robert Ehlenfeldt. “It took some scrambling to meet the federal deadlines to depopulate the infected herds and test surrounding herds, because of the difficulty of locating all the farms with swine. But we finished the work with time to spare, and we expect the three states that imposed restrictions on swine imports from Wisconsin will lift them very shortly.”

California and Kansas have been requiring import permits for swine from Wisconsin, and Michigan banned all Wisconsin swine.

“We need to take some lessons from this experience,” Ehlenfeldt said. “Number one, we can never afford to let our guard down when it comes to these ‘old’ diseases or any of the emerging diseases that keep appearing. Number two, small producers need to practice good biosecurity just as much as large ones do.

“And number three, we need to know where livestock is when we have a situation like this. We dodged a bullet this time; if this had been a faster-moving disease or one with human health implications, the number of unregistered premises we faced in Clark County could have been disastrous.”

This final round of testing was on hog farms within the two-mile radius surrounding the second of two infected farms involved in the outbreak. In this round, 16 hogs on three farms were tested.

Source: TheDunnCountyNews

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