February 4, 2008

Hog disease PRRS causing losses in US Midwest
 

Hog producers in some areas of the Midwest in US are reporting of increasing deaths from severe cases of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome but there are no available statistics.
 

Pam Zaabel, director of swine health information and research at National Pork Board (NPB), said some herds in Minnesota and northwest Iowa have been affected by PRRS since autumn, and farms that were previous negative for the disease are among those most severely affected.

Zaabel said the likelihood of the disease outbreaks might increase due to winter conditions when barns have less natural ventilation. She added that low temperatures might be favourable to the virus' survival.

David Preisler, executive director of the Minnesota Pork Board, said while some operations have reported death losses in sows as high as 10 percent, the number of animals lost is not available. He added that the cases are severe on individual farms.

The NPB estimates producer losses from the disease per annum is at about US$600 million, making PRRS the most costly disease for the pork industry.

PRRS is a pig disease that has devastating effects that include abortions, stillbirth or death in sows and young pigs, chronic respiratory problems and breeding problems.

A national initiative was organised in 2003 to develop solutions for the management and elimination of PRRS on swine farms but despite so, the disease could not be stopped as some operations have reported of their pigs' abortions and increased death rates among young pigs and sows.

Analysts said it is difficult to assess the disease's impact on hog supplies as number of occurrences of the disease varies from place to place. They also said the extent of the damage might not be available until summer and slaughter rates might give an indication of the severity of PRRS for this winter.