Iowa’s Ag Secretary is calling for a massive effort to completely eradicate the deadly swine disease pseudorabies from Iowa. Ag Secretary Patty Judge says over three-hundred Iowa swine herds are infected, and it’s time to institute manditory vaccination, and in severe cases, destruction of infected herds.Judge says the goal is to completely eliminate the disease by January 1, 2001, using a three part approach including removing infected herds in Iowa.Judge is asking for the legislature to provide some money to help reduce the price of the vaccinations.State Veterinarian Dr. John Schiltz says pseudorabies causes respiratory problems and in some cases, spontaneous abortions in pigs, although it is not harmful to humans.At one time, over four-thousand Iowa swine herds were infected with the disease but now Iowa is the only state to have a pseudorabies problem. Today, 34 states have been completely free of pseudorabies for at least a year and another seven have no current infections. Nebraska has just one infected herd. Illinois has just one, and imposes restrictions on Iowa pigs which are trucked in to Illinois.
