PED to become notifiable in England
If a case of PED is suspected, vets and pig keepers will be obligated to notify the APHA.
Porcine epidemic diarrhoea (PED) is set become a notifiable disease this week. From Friday 18 December, vets and pig keepers will be legally required to inform the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) of any suspected cases.
The aim is to better prepare the pig industry for an outbreak of the disease should it arrive on our shores.
PED is a significant threat to British pig keepers and has already had devastating consequences in the US - causing up to 100 per cent mortality in piglets and knocking out around 10 per cent of pig production in 2013-14.
Since then, the disease has also spread to the Ukraine.
From Friday, it will be classed as 'lightweight notifiable' in England. There will be no statutory movement controls, no compulsory slaughter and no blocks on exports. Scotland is currently consulting on the introduction of similar legislation.
If a case of PED is suspected, vets and pig keepers will be obligated to notify the APHA.
The government will then inform the 'appropriate organisation' (AHDB Pork), who will provide the affected pig unit with biosecurity advice and carry out tracing and alerting at-risk contacts.
The aim will be to eliminate the disease from the unit and prevent further spread.
Meryl Ward, chairman of AHDB Pork, the organisation for pig levy payers in England, said: "This initiative is a significant step change in partnership working between industry, Defra and the APHA to build England’s resilience to disease.
"PED is a potentially serious disease and emerging threat to our English pig industry. A unique industry led collaboration with Government led to the development of the PEDv Contingency plan to ‘identify, contain and eliminate’.
"The regulatory change to notifiable status is a critical part of the plan and will assist in early identification of affected premises, allowing more time to take effective actions to minimise the impact on the industry and therefore increasing the opportunity to eliminate the disease."
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
