Ontario Pork - Disease

Animal Disease

The occurrence of a foreign or domestic animal disease could potentially devastate the Canadian pork industry. Pork producers care for the welfare of their animals daily and do not want to see their animals suffer or be destroyed from disease. Ontario has some of the strictest biosecurity protocols in the industry to keep pig herds free of disease. These measures include restricting visitors on farms, providing visitors with their own set of boots and coveralls to wear into any barns, footbaths to disinfect shoes worn by visitors, and in some cases requiring visitors to take a shower before entering and after leaving a hog barn.

Foreign Animal Disease

Although Canada has been free of foreign animal diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease, Classical Swine Fever (Hog Cholera) or African Swine Fever, it is critical that all precautions are taken by the industry and government to protect Canadian swine herds.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is the overall lead agency responsible for the prevention of and response to outbreaks of foreign animal disease in Canada. However, other government organizations and industry groups also play key roles in these areas. The Canadian Pork Council, as the national organization for the pork industry, coordinates national activities surrounding animal health and foreign animal disease.

It is everyone's responsibility to help ensure that foreign animal diseases are not inadvertently brought into the country, either by goods or visitors to Canada or Canadians returning from abroad. The impacts of a Foreign Animal Disease outbreak affect all sectors of society, not just agriculture.

ANIMAL DISEASE RESOURCES
TOPIC	TYPE	SAMPLE OF DOCUMENT CONTENTS
Canadian Food Inspection Agency – Disease Control	Web Link	Animal diseases can threaten the health of Canadians and cause multi-million-dollar losses. The international marketability of our animals and their products and by-products is enhanced by Canada's reputation for being free from certain serious diseases. To protect public security, the CFIA conducts inspections and has monitoring and testing programs in place to prevent and control the spread of zoonotic diseases, which are diseases transmissible from animals to humans.
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (UK)	Web Link	The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a Government Department in the UK. The overarching challenge for Defra is to secure a healthy environment in which we and future generations can prosper. As we build a low carbon, resource efficient economy, Defra helps people to adapt to changes, deals with environmental risks and makes the most of the opportunity we have to secure a sustainable society and a healthy environment.
ThePigSite.com - Pig Diseases	Web Link	This area of ThePigSite.com lists over 140 pig, hog and swine diseases / conditions in alphabetical order. Simply select the disease of choice from the list below or the drop down menu above. Diseases listed in alphabetical order.
Pighealth.com	Web Link	General Information sites about pigs including some disease information on foot-and-mouth, swine flu, bird flu, PMWS, PRRS and swine fever.
Food Inspection Agency: African Swine Fever	Web Link	African swine fever (ASF) is a contagious viral disease of swine. In Africa, the virus is found in wild pigs and ticks and is transmitted readily between these two hosts. Susceptibility to the disease can vary between species of pigs. ASF causes high mortality rates in infected domestic pigs, European wild boars, and American wild pigs.
Food Inspection Agency: Classical Swine Fever	Web Link	Classical swine fever (CSF), also known as hog cholera or swine fever, is a highly contagious viral disease affecting domestic and wild pig populations. The disease ranges from mild to severe and can be fatal. CSF may cause a large number of deaths in affected herds. Symptoms of CSF include fever and redness of the skin, as well as incoordination, diarrhea, and pneumonia. Severe cases of the disease appear very similar to African swine fever.