Originally from: Pat Gardiner
                        
Please read this first, I will comment at the bottom.

Vaccine sought for pig-wasting disease

16 June 2006

By TIM CRONSHAW

Scientists hope to be closer to finding a vaccine for the pig-wasting disease that struck Mid-Canterbury piggeries two months ago.

The South Island was clear of the contagious viral disease, post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), until young pigs began to die at about 14 piggeries, from the south of Christchurch to Ashburton.

Samples of the virus have been sent, together with North Island samples, to the Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong, Victoria. The two samples will be compared to confirm that the disease is PMWS.

Massey University animal health expert Professor Roger Morris said the results of the laboratory work would provide the final proof that the syndrome was responsible for the pigs' deaths. "I think we are satisfied that it is PMWS, and the Christchurch sample has given us the opportunity to check this out.

"We have got some promising indications from the work we have already done that there is a virus in there. The samples will be compared with our experimental transmission study (in the North Island)."

In this study, scientists proved the disease could be transmitted direct by pigs in close contact and from short distances away.

Morris said the Mid-Canterbury disease appeared to be following the same path as the North Island outbreak, without further spread.

"Once we know what we are dealing with, the rate of spread is dropping considerably. I am not aware of its spread because people are taking precautions," said Morris.

The disease was first found in the North Island at an Orini piggery in 2003, when 18 piggeries went out of business after losing up to 20 per cent of their herds.

Last March, about 1000 weaners died in Mid-Canterbury from 20,000 pigs that went through the susceptible six-week to 12-week age group.

Once the virus has been confirmed, the long-term hope is to develop a vaccine. The first step, however, will be to produce a diagnostic test to conclusively identify which pigs do not have the disease.

Morris was brought in as the death toll began to mount in Mid- Canterbury. Internationally recognised, he has researched pig diseases for 40 years.

He said it was difficult to diagnose pigs with the wasting disease because every herd had poor- growing pigs.

"There is no way of knowing, because we have to check them clinically. We can look at a pig and say it has PMWS, but to do the opposite and diagnose that it does not have PMWS is more difficult."

He said a diagnostic test would be a major breakthrough.

Finding a vaccine for PMWS is expected to take one to two years.

When pigs were found wasting away, Morris and piggery owners were certain that it was a gentler virus than the one causing the northern outbreak.

Morris said the Mid-Canterbury virus sample looked different to the North Island virus, and it was hoped this would be proved after the results arrived from Australia. The samples were sent to Australia about two weeks ago.

Pat’s Comments:

1. There is no test for PMWS for either strain 2. There are two strains 3. There is no vaccine for PMWS 4. It spreads animal to animal and/or short distances.

That all seems frank and correct. The gentler strain was present in England for some years prior to 1999.

It mutated in East Anglia in 1999 to something nastier, immediately prior to Swine Fever 2000 and Foot and Mouth 2001. The information was under reported by Maff-Defra, who drew criticism from the former president of the OIE for failing to make the disease notifiable.

As soon as the CSF and FMD export bans were lifted, Britain resumed exports of live pigs, semen and embryos world-wide, despite knowing full well they had a nasty epidemic of PMWS and no way of health testing exports.

British pigs have been sick for the last seven years. Draw your own conclusions.

This was published yesterday on a pig related site in respect of British prices: “Contract buyers were also reporting a dip in supplies part of which was due to fertility and conception problems last autumn and rising mortality in some herds.”

Britain’s pigs are sick. PMWS and the related PDNS are now often referred to as “circovirus.” The US is now getting increasing numbers of more serious outbreaks.

Now senior French officials say that Britain has been hiding up toxoplasmosis, in the pig herds, too.

Judging by the smoke-screens being thrown up by the British Food Standards Agency, I would say the French have it right.

Howzat?

Regards
Pat Gardiner
www.go-self-sufficient.com