The National Pork Board reports the anecdotal evidence indicates a Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus epidemic that’s swept through the United States is quieting down.
An outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea first identified in the U.S. mid-west in mid-May has spread to 18 states.
Initially about two thirds of the infections were reported on finishing floors and about one third in sow farms with the most devastating clinical signs in the sow farms where young pigs can have 100 percent mortality.
Dr. Paul Sundberg, the vice president science and technology with the National Pork Board, says it appears the spread of the virus is slowing.
Right now all we have is anecdotal information from the field and it sounds like the spread of the virus has decreased.
We don’t have good data on that.
The data that we get from the diagnostic labs contains re-testing from positive farms and we can’t parse that out so we don’t have good data but the anecdotal information we get from the field is that it appears that the virus is quieting down somewhat.
There have been reports where finishing floors that had been infected with very good disinfection, total depopulation of course and then cleaning and disinfecting and negative pigs coming back in staying negative.
That’s a good thing and what we’re trying to get the information together to make sure that everybody has a similar protocol or at least similar information so we can make sure that veterinarians and producers all know how to act to have an outcome of success.
Dr. Sundberg says, where a farm is positive, the intent is to do everything possible to contain the virus on that farm with the eventual goal of eliminating the infection.
