Dr. Jette Christensen, the Manager of the Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network, is raising the alarm with regards to three specific swine diseases, two of which mimic the symptoms of foreign animal diseases.
“Of the three, is a new kind of streptococcus called Streptococcus zooepidemicus, and we call it Strep zoo for short,” said Dr. Christensen. “It showed up in sows and gilts in Manitoba at the beginning of May. We also have two cases of clostridium and this clostridium is relatively rare. Called Clostridium septicum it is worthy of attention because it can mimic African Swine Fever or Classical Swine Fever. So the clinical signs could suggest those foreign animal diseases.”
They also have the ongoing story of Seneca Valley Virus brought to their attention several times the last year, noteworthy because there are two cases in Ontario.
“These two cases were in sow herds and not on assembly yards, so that’s why we raise the flag on this disease,” said Dr. Christenson. “It can mimic a foreign animal disease. In this specific situation, it can mimic Foot and Mouth Disease or other vesicular diseases, so diseases that cause blisters.”
Dr. Christensen said it’s essential to be extra vigilant, to ensure proper transport biosecurity of cull sows and market hogs because these infections have shown up at slaughter. This information comes from the CWSHIN in its second-quarter swine disease report.
“We gathered the information in July and beginning of August. It’s always a bit more challenging in summer. We get a survey from the practitioner in the region, in the Western region; Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and BC where they give us a clinical impression on what happened in the second quarter of 2019,” she said. “We also get laboratory data and reports from the Prairie Diagnostic Lab and the veterinary college and the veterinary diagnostic lab, so we cover the region with the labs there. And finally, we pull down some publicly available information from federally inspected abattoirs, analyzing it, hold an essential call where practitioners and swine experts in the region discuss what we find in the data.”
Looking specifically at the Streptococcus infection the clinical signs seen so far, sudden death or death on arrival at an abattoir.
“In sow herds, it’s also caused infertility or abortions. It appeared in four sow barns, in culled sows and assembly yards, at one provincial packing plan, and increased losses in sows from a US abattoir. And the losses they talk about, that’s dead on arrival. So the assembly yards, the provincial packing plant and the US abattoir have reported sudden death and found Streptococcus zooepidemicus in these dead animals,” said Dr. Christensen. “With the experience from the four sow herds in our region diagnosed with this Streptococcus, that it has affected gilts and sows but not their litters. So it’s only appeared in gilts and sows, and that’s very interesting, we think.”
She said if a person sees sudden death in sows or gilts, if abattoir reports show there’s an increase in mortality on arrival, or increased abortions or repeats call the veterinarian to determine what it is.
“Specifically for Strep Zoo, since diagnosed at abattoirs and assembly yards, it’s imperative to have good biosecurity around the transport of your culled animals or hogs that go to markets.”

“So critically assess your biosecurity around the transport of these animals. That would be very important for this specific disease,” said Dr. Christensen. “Strep Zoo is a new disease, a disease that we haven’t seen before. Clostridium Septicum is a disease that we know, but it’s very, very rare. The concern is that this bacteria also causes sudden death in pigs, but the two cases discussed in this quarter is in the larger finishing pigs. It was sudden death or dramatic clinical signs. There were big patches of reddening skin over the shoulders going down on the belly, and a few of them died quite early on. That concerns us. These clinical signs concern us because they can mimic African or Classical Swine Fever.”
Again she said to call the vet on this one too.
They discussed the Seneca Valley Virus infection because it’s present at assembly yards in Ontario and the West, specifically in Manitoba, but the new occurrence in the two sow barns in Ontario.
“So that’s the first time we’ve seen this virus move from the assembly yards back to the sow barns. The virus is also present in the US where several Canadian pigs shipped to the US diagnosed with Seneca Valley Virus once they’re in the US, but when they got that disease, we don’t know. We assume it’s in contaminated trucks or waiting pens on the way down there. It’s never been traced back and diagnosed in Canada so far.” •
— By Harry Siemens