Animals > Animal Diseases > Swine Vesicular Disease  

Swine Vesicular Disease

What is swine vesicular disease?

Swine vesicular disease is an acute, contagious viral disease of pigs characterised by fever and vesicles (fluid-filled blisters) in the mouth and on the snout, feet, and teats. The vesicular lesions are clinically indistinguishable from those caused by foot and mouth disease (FMD). Swine are the only species affected by swine vesicular disease. The illness varies in severity but is rarely fatal.

Do we have this disease in Canada?

No. Swine vesicular disease is not present in Canada. It was first described in Italy in 1966 and since then has occurred in many European countries as well as Hong Kong and Japan. It has never occurred in the Western hemisphere.

Is there a public health risk associated with swine vesicular disease?

No. Swine vesicular disease is not transferable between animals and people and is not a public health issue. However, rare cases of accidental human infection have been reported in laboratory personnel working with the virus.

How is the disease transmitted and spread?

Swine vesicular disease spreads quickly through direct contact between pigs or contact with excretions from other pigs. The disease can also be introduced into a herd of pigs through the ingestion of feed that contains infected meat scraps. All parts of the animal, body fluids and excretions from infected animals contain high levels of the virus. This virus is extremely resistant in the environment and can survive the drying, freezing, fermentation and smoking processes used to preserve foods. It survives more than four months in feces at room temperature and up to eleven months in carcasses at 12°C to -20°C. The virus can also survive in pork and processed pork products for extended periods of time.

What are the clinical signs of swine vesicular disease?

The clinical signs of this disease may easily be confused with those of FMD:

• fever and loss of appetite;
• sudden appearance of lameness in several animals in close contact;
• limping, an uncomfortable appearance, or a refusal to move on hard surfaces;
• vesicles (fluid-filled blisters) on the snout, feet, mouth, tongue and teats;
• vesicular ruptures, leaving erosive lesions;
• foot pads may become loosened or a loss of hoof may occur;
• young animals are more severely affected;
• recovery occurs usually within one to three weeks, with little to no mortality.

How is this disease diagnosed?

Laboratory tests to detect the swine vesicular disease virus are absolutely necessary to confirm a diagnosis and rule out the possibility of other vesicular diseases such as FMD.

Are there any treatments?

There is no treatment for swine vesicular disease and no vaccines are available.

What is being done to prevent swine vesicular disease from entering Canada?

Swine vesicular disease is a reportable disease under the Health of Animals Act. This means that all suspected cases must be reported to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). All reported suspect cases are immediately investigated by inspectors from the Agency. The CFIA imposes strict regulations on the import of animals and animal products from countries where this disease is known to occur. These regulations are enforced through CFIA port-of-entry inspections. The Health of Animals Regulations prohibits the feeding of food waste containing meat to pigs in Canada.

Canada’s emergency response strategy in the event of an outbreak of a foreign animal disease is to eradicate the disease and re-establish the country’s disease-free status as quickly as possible. In an effort to eradicate swine vesicular disease, the CFIA would employ its "stamping out" policy, which would include:

• the humane destruction of all infected and exposed animals;
• surveillance and tracing of potentially infected or exposed animals;
• strict quarantine and animal movement controls;
• strict decontamination of infected premises; and
• zoning to define infected and disease-free areas.

How to get more information?

Contact your Canadian Food Inspection Agency Area Office:

You can find your local Canadian Food Inspection Agency District Office on the CFIA Web site or by consulting the blue pages of your local phone directory.

September 2003
P0322E-03