Canada has now had about 100 cases of porcine epidemic diarrhea infection in hog operations, but the three western-most provinces remain free of the disease.
The virus, which is almost always fatal to young piglets, has left traces on trailers in Saskatchewan and Alberta, but no hog operations have been infected, pork officials said April 2.
“We’ve got no new cases of PED in Western Canada,” said Alberta Agriculture veterinary epidemiologist Dr. Julia Keenliside.
“This is just super. Manitoba has had no new cases. They are still at five, and they’re cleaning those up.”
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The number of cases in Canada increased over the winter, which was expected, said Dr. Egan Brockhoff of Prairie Swine Health Services in Red Deer.
“There has been a steady number of positives coming to us from Ontario and a handful in Quebec as well,” he said. “Our cumulative total now in Canada is approximately 100 primary cases.”
He defined primary cases as first site infections. If PED spread from one barn to another in the same operation, for example, the latter would be considered secondary.
Continued surveillance in Western Canada has found signs of the virus on livestock trailers in Alberta and Saskatchewan, said Keenliside.
Tests can identify the proteins associated with the virus, but that doesn’t necessarily mean those traces are capable of infecting hogs.
A low-level PED sample was detected in Saskatchewan in February on a livestock trailer, she said during an Alberta Pork conference call.
A producer inspected the trailer and rejected it as not sufficiently clean. Tests showed “the virus was there, or the protein from the virus was there, but it was at a really, really low level,” said Keenliside.
The trailer had hauled pigs from Montana to Alberta, had been washed in that province and then went to a farm in Saskatchewan.
It was washed again after the positive PED test and returned to Alberta to haul more pigs. Subsequent tests for PED were negative.
“That also shows the value of watching what trailers come to your farm and making sure they are tested if you think the wash job hasn’t been done properly,” Keenliside said.
“In this case, I know this trailer was also used to haul other animals, sheep and cattle.”
Brockhoff emphasized the wisdom of using disinfectants on transport trailers. A number of products have proven effective and a full list of those is available on the Alberta Pork website.
Alberta swine veterinarians have also been exploring the possibility of virus spread by wild birds.
In the United States, where PED is now considered endemic, Brockhoff said spread was much less rapid this winter than last.
However, the U.S. is still reporting about 150 new cases of PED infected barns every week.
