Farmscape for December 16, 2020

The Manager of the Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network says Canada's swine health organizations are stepping up their focus on improving diagnostic methods for Rotavirus in an effort to improve the effectiveness of vaccinations.
The Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network's 3rd Quarter report on swine health surveillance identifies Rotaviruses as a problem right now that practitioners are paying particular attention to.
CWSHIN Manager Dr. Jette Christensen explains Rotaviruses cause diarrhea in young pigs.

Clip-Dr. Jette Christensen-Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network:
The problem is that there are three subtypes of Rotaviruses.
We call them A, B and C.
We have a vaccine for Rotavirus but it's based on the A type and that means that now that it seems as if the B and C types are spreading.
The vaccine isn't as effective as it was before.
That's what we hear from our practitioners, that's what's reported back to us.
There are groups of practitioners, with the support of CWSHIN, and as best we can we try to explore if there are better options for diagnostic tests for Rotavirus and better options for vaccines.
That is not something that is going to happen right now but we're exploring how we can improve diagnostics and vaccines.
For that reason we've reached out on our national call with the CSHIN, the Canadian Swine Health Intelligence Network to our sister organizations, RAIZO in Quebec and OAHN in Ontario to see if we can exchange some data and some knowledge and get a better understanding of what exactly is going on with Rotavirus and the Canadian swine herds right now.

Dr. Christensen says researchers are trying to get a better understanding of how many A types, how many B types, how many C types and how many mixed types we have out there to support practitioners.
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Bruce Cochrane.

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