MAFF backs study on pig diseases
10 March 2000
MAFF backs study on pig diseases
By Alistair Driver
THE government is backing further research into the two diseases currently devastating UK pig herds in an effort to minimise their future impact.
Porcine dermatitis nephropathy syndrome (PDNS) and post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) over 120 herds since last autumn.
One of the key objectives will be to develop an effective live test for work the diseases which have high mortality and drastically reduce herd performance.
Farmers problems are compounded because PDNS symptoms are similar to Classical Swine Fever (CSF), so infected herds are closed until CSF is ruled out.
As yet, very little is known about the diseases, which is why the Ministry of Agriculture is backing the Veterinary Laboratory Agency to find out more.
Laurence Gibson, MAFF veterinary adviser, did not rule out the possibility that more cases of the two diseases than previously known would come to light.
“The first step will be… to get a better idea of how quickly the disease is spreading, where it is and how well it is being recognised,” he said.
MAFF staff will also look at a cases in detail to try and piece together more information about what causes the diseases and whether they are linked.
The Veterinary Laboratory Agency (VLA) has linked both diseases to the porcine circo-virus type 2, having found it in lesions of affected pigs.
VLA experts have suggested that they could develop routine screening for PCV-2 as an indicator of the presence of the diseases.
“But this will depend on what comes out of the current study. There is great deal that is still not known,” said Mr Gibson.
Jill Thompson, who has been researching PDNS at SAC Edinburgh since 1993, said much more research into the diseases needed to be done.
“The presence of PCV-2 could be incidental,” she said.
Her research has revealed the presence of a bacteria, Pasteurella multocida, in isolates from PDNS cases. But she admitted that this could be incidental.