n July 9, 2004 during a press conference hosted at the IPPA office, Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge announced that Iowa has reached Stage V (5) status and has now been declared Pseudorabies free.

"A few years ago, we started out with over 4,000 infected herds in Iowa, the highest in the nation, today I am elated to report that we are now Pseudorabies free," Secretary Judge stated.

In a letter from the USDA, Dr. Michael Gilsdorf, Director of USDA's Eradication and Surveillance Team of the National Center for Animal Health Programs, stated, "Iowa is to be congratulated for the successful control and eradication of Pseudorabies from its swine populationthis is an accomplishment for which Iowa can be justly proud."

This has been a momentous undertaking and a tremendous success story," said Steve Kerns, President-Elect of the Iowa Pork Producers Association. "During this program, Iowa producers cleaned-up more PRV infected herds than the rest of the country combined."

Pseudorabies is a disease of swine that is extremely contagious and causes reproductive problems, including spontaneous abortion, stillbirths, and occasional death losses in breeding and finishing hogs.  The disease is not a threat to humans, and the meat from infected animals is not contaminated.

Early Pseudorabies control efforts began in the 1970's. A major eradication effort in Iowa began in 1989 in the known infected counties, and grew into a statewide effort by 1993.

"Now we must focus our efforts on strict animal disease surveillance and national animal identification systems which will streamline further disease eradication efforts," said Kerns. "We have made great strides in that area as well and the IPPA plans to continue with full cooperation to see that the lessons learned in PRV eradication are duplicated to other programs."

Many people need to be thanked for this effort, especially Secretary Judge and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, United States Department of Agriculture, Governor Tom Vilsack and the Iowa Legislature and swine veterinarians everywhere, added Kerns.