Transmissible Gastroenteritis, a viral disease that affects only swine, has been identified on one farm with two sites located in South Central Manitoba.

TGE does not affect humans and is not considered a food safety risk but it spreads easily from pig to pig causing vomiting and diarrhea resulting in particularly high losses among baby pigs less than one week of age.

Manitoba's chief veterinary officer Dr. Wayne Lees says, because it spreads so easily, aggressive action is being taken to eliminate the disease.

Dr Wayne Lees-Manitoba Agriculture Food and Rural Initiatives

The veterinary community has been very active in alerting others to make sure that all swine veterinarians and their producers know that the outbreak has happened.

Manitoba Pork Council has sent out a letter to alert swine producers, if they see suspicious clinical signs of mortality in young baby pigs or unusual abortions, get in touch with their veterinarian right away.

The best defense is prevention and biosecurity is really the key to preventing spread of this disease from one place to another.

We get reminders of these things from time to time.

It reminds us then that biosecurity is a constant effort, that we have to pay attention to that every day.

I liken it to a goalie.

A goalie tries to keep out every puck.

They don't necessarily succeed all the time but a good goalie keeps most of the pucks away and that's really what biosecurity is supposed to do.

Dr Lees notes we haven't had any new reports of disease in the last week or so and he's confident it's been contained to this one particular operation.

Further Reading

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Find out more information on transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) by clicking here.