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Ohio has PEDV Contingency Plan for Fairs and Exhibitions

While the risk of the PED virus breaking at the Ohio State Fair or a County Fair is small, State Veterinarian Dr. Tony Forshey says it's important to have a transparent contingency plan in place that will deal with the situation should it occur.

"It's our recommendation at the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA), we're recommending that all fairs, if we have an outbreak and we confirm it that it is a positive outbreak that those shows become terminal shows, which all animals would be taken to slaughter at the end of the show," Forshey said.

Dr. Forshey also recommends pigs going back home be isolated from the rest of the herd, which just good biosecurity. The State Vet's office also recommends those exhibitors taking pigs to several fairs to make sure they don't go to another fair for 7 to 10 days.

"The other thing we've done at our fairs this year, we've asked fair veterinarians, in our fair veterinarian training that we do at ODA, to make sure they have some sort of isolation area picked out, either on the fairgrounds or close by so if they have a sick pig for whatever reason, get that pig out of the swine barn and get it isolated as rapidly as possible until we determine what's going on," said Forshey. "So we've set some precautions in place this year that are a little stricter than in the past."

The State Veterinarian also reminds fairgoers PEDV only affects pigs, so there's no threat to human health and there is no food safety issue.

July 28, 2013 By Dave Russell Brownfield Radio;