After a two-week lull in new cases of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in Manitoba, another barn tested positive Aug. 9 and brought the total number of infected premises to 61.
Dr. Glen Duizer, Manitoba’s chief veterinarian, said the new case wasn’t unexpected, and efforts continue to contain further spread of the virus and eliminate it from infected barns.
Twenty-two sow barns, 13 nursery barns and 26 finisher barns had been infected as of Aug. 9 in an outbreak that began in June. Duizer said 117,000 sows are under test, and 67,000 live on infected premises.
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The higher number includes sows in barns in a “buffer zone” around the area in southeastern Manitoba stretching to the U.S. border where most outbreaks occurred.
PED is almost always fatal to piglets younger than one week old because it causes severe diarrhea and dehydration.
Manitoba also experienced cases of PED in 2014 and 2016.
“We had not had any positive cases since the fourth of July, but yesterday … infected premises 61 was confirmed positive from samples collected from pigs,” Duizer said Aug. 10 in a conference call organized by Alberta Pork.
The latest case was found in a herd previously infected but that had since tested negative for the virus. New pigs moved into the barn and appeared to be shedding the virus, he said.
“This premises was within one of our existing buffer areas,” he said.
“It expands that buffer area slightly to include two additional premises that will be under surveillance now.”
Sites receiving pigs have fully implemented PED elimination strategies and have pigs either fully recovered from the virus or contain piglets from immune sows, he said.
More than 30 shipments of pigs from infected premises have gone to packing plants in the last two weeks. Packers are processing those pigs at end-of-day shifts and undertaking segregation to contain the virus, Duizer said.
Mark Fynn, manager of quality insurance and animal care for Manitoba Pork, said the most recent case of PED after the two-week hiatus doesn’t change the scenario.
Producers have increased biosecurity and continue to battle the virus.
“It’s a very hard task to be perfect, for everyone in the barn to be perfect 100 percent of the time,” Fynn said about preventive measures.
He said vaccines are being used to control the virus, and while none of them provide complete protection, they do reduce clinical signs and virus shedding.
