Two states have announced changes in their pseudorabies (PRV) control programs.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture has filed an emergency rule changing the expiration date of the monitored status of a site from six months from the date of last official bleeding to 12 months for movement of swine. Testing requirements for the sale of swine have not changed. Mandatory vaccination of all swine on monitored sites in Iowa continues through March 2003.

Iowa State Veterinarian John Schiltz says the emergency rule was filed because federal funding for enhanced surveillance testing ended Dec. 31, 2002, and routine state funding was cut by 50%. The result is that producers would have been responsible for paying for required six-month monitoring tests on all premises located in Stage II (control).

In Indiana, one-year certification as PRV-free has resulted in relaxed monitoring requirements. Major changes include:

• Elimination of down-the-road testing;

• Elimination of change-of-ownership testing for breeding or exhibition;

• Extension of health certificates from 60 to 90 days; and

• Permission to ship hogs interstate under specific guidelines.

“The producers and swine practitioners in this state fought this disease for more than two decades,” says John Johnston, DVM, director of the Board of Animal Health's Swine Division. “They deserve to reap the benefits of their hard work and investment in making Indiana PRV-free.”