By MEGGIE I. FOSTER
Assistant Editor

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Two weeks ago, Wisconsin agriculture officials announced an outbreak of the pseudorabies virus (PRV) in two swine herds and the Indiana Board of Animal Health assures there is “minimal” threat to Hoosier hog producers.

During their quarterly meeting on April 26, the Indiana Board of Animal Health (BOAH) presented committee and division reports, including the swine report.

“Wisconsin is going to take care of this situation and is currently in the process of depopulating the infected herds within 15 days in order to maintain their pseudorabies free status,” said BOAH’s Public Information Officer Denise Derrer.

And even though, the Michigan Department of Agriculture made the decision to ban all imported hogs from Wisconsin, Indiana animal health officials continue to report there is little to zero risk for Indiana’s hog industry.

John Johnston, D.V.M. and the swine division director for BOAH reported that no hogs have been shipped to Indiana farms from the two pseudorabies-infected Wisconsin herds this year.

In fact, Johnston said only 182 hogs have moved from Wisconsin to Indiana in the past year. Recognized as a dairy state, Wisconsin is home to only149,000 hogs.

The diseased hogs in Wisconsin, according to Johnston, have been tested and destroyed, maintaining their PRV free status. However, the herds will continue to be closely monitored, all swine within a five mile radius and trace-in and trace-out hogs will also be tested. The infected animals were found on two small Amish farms in Clark County within miles of one another, Johnston said. Although, the two cases are said to be unrelated, he added.

Also, Johnston reported that the diseased animals may have been tainted by feral swine through “nose to nose” contact. Feral swine or wild hogs, numbering an estimated 4 million nationwide, can spread disease if they come in contact with domestic pigs. Many states in the Midwest, including Indiana consider feral swine a serious issue of biosecurity, according to Derrer.

However, Johnston admitted that the exact cause of the outbreak in Wisconsin has not yet been determined.

“This is the first nationally reported outbreak of pseudorabies since 2003,” said Johnston.

Derrer said that Indiana has been “free of it since 2001” when the state was finally dubbed with “free status.”

Most prevalent in swine, PRV is a viral disease often causing newborn piglets to die. Older pigs can survive infection, but generally become carriers of the virus for life. Symptoms, if any for swine include abortion, and coughing, sneezing, fever, constipation and depression.

In order to keep PRV-free status in Indiana, BOAH requires that all imported hogs test 30-days negative for PRV, as well as several other diseases.

“But we are going to step-up screening for imported hogs, particularly from Wisconsin,” said Derrer.

The state also encourages producers to “know their health status through regular veterinarian visits and on-farm biosecurity measures” day in and day out, according to Derrer, when asked to provide advice to producers.

Derrer and Johnston insist BOAH will continue to work hard and do what is necessary to ensure the pseduorabies-free health status for all Indiana hog producers.

Pet food recall and Indiana

Relating to the swine report, Sandra Norman, director of the companion animal and equine division briefly reported on the contaminated pet food supply and recall issue. She mentioned that melamine or wheat gluten may not only have contaminated the pet food supply, but also the human food supply. Reports flood the media, according to Norman, that now swine herds in California and Ohio may be suffering illness caused by food waste containing the wheat gluten.

Brett Marsh, BOAH director and state veterinarian also confirmed that “food containing the melamine has been fed to hogs” and the “pet food industry may need to be prepared to change how they do things.”

Norman said that the state chemist/feed commissioner is handling the situation by completing additional auditing or testing requested by the FDA.

Leon Thacker, director of the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Purdue University added the his lab has the “equipment to run tests for detection of melamine,” in the case of an emergency, “but establishing the test as a predictable outcome will take some lead time.”

Norman noted that BOAH has been responding by fielding numerous phone calls from veterinarians and citizens regarding the issue, in addition to participating in calls with the FDA and the pet food industry.

“We are helping the state chemist test and monitor this situation,” said Norman. “The investigation is ongoing and will probably take more time to complete. We don’t know what will happen as life goes on, but continue to keep our eyes and ears open.”

Overview of BOAH

In addition to the detailed swine and companion animals report, Director Marsh provided an extensive overview of BOAH’s divisions and daily operations.

“This isn’t something we normally do, but I wanted you all to know what’s going on in the agency,” said Marsh.

He defined BOAH’s charge as “the prevention, detection, control and eradication of infectious, contagious and communicable diseases affecting the health of animals and processing and distribution of products derived from animals to control health hazards that may threaten public health and that is right out of the statue.”

Also, he said that BOAH is responsible for issues surrounding animal health, food safety and emergency preparedness, such as animal issues in the situation of a natural disaster. Additionally, he discussed “other lesser known functions” of BOAH as brand registrations, rendering licensing that is required for all trucks carrying rendered animals and livestock market licensing.

Marsh shared some of the greatest challenges of his agency as “maintaining services to all sectors in a changing demographic, including consolidation of the livestock industry, growing pet-owning population, rising popularity of wildlife, concern for animal well-being issues and maintaining trained, experienced staff in a competitive job market.”

According to Marsh, BOAH submitted new budget proposals to the Indiana legislature earlier this year, which have recently been approved by both the house and the senate. Passed on April 29, the renewed budget, HB 1001 will provide funds to restore staff and programs within many divisions of BOAH.

“If this budget holds, there will be an additional $550,000 for our dairy division,” said Marsh. “This is going to give us an opportunity to restore many positions that we have lost over the past year and save our dairy programs.”