Special veterinary meetings focusing on pigs are planned for later this year under the direction of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), prompted by an “increasing trend in PRRS diagnoses” in 2014.
According to the Agency’s latest Pig Disease Surveillance Report, diagnoses of PRRS from October to December 2014 was the highest quarterly rate seen since 2004.
“Sixty percent of the diagnoses in 2014 were in the Bury St Edmunds region,” stated APHA, adding that this included confirmed diagnoses in vaccinated pigs.
“It is generally acknowledged that the increasing diversity of PRRS viruses in the GB pig population makes it more likely that the vaccines available will not be able to fully protect against some field virus strains. It is important, when PRRS virus is detected in vaccinated pigs, that follow-up investigations are undertaken to investigate the clinical significance of the detected virus.”
The increasing trend in diagnoses prompted a meeting at APHA Bury St Edmunds veterinary investigation centre in February 2015 to update practitioners in the region on PRRS diagnostic trends, evolution, the use of sequencing, and PRRS control using vaccination. Several case studies were examined.
Veterinary meetings, focussed on pigs, are now being planned for later in 2015, at APHA’s Thirsk and Starcross veterinary investigation centres.Â