PED Still Spreading; SDCV Discovered

Pork Industry Works to Prevent Further Spread of Virus as Show, Sale Season Begins

Russ Quinn
By  Russ Quinn , DTN Staff Reporter
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A PED case was discovered this week in Vermont, bringing the total number of states with the disease now to 28. (DTN photo by Pam Smith)

OMAHA (DTN) -- Pork industry researchers are continuing to investigate the porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus while the disease continues to spread across North America.

Specifically, researchers are keeping a close eye on variants of the existing PED virus and watching another newly discovered virus, swine deltacoronavirus (SDCV), which could be the next big issue the pork industry will have to deal with.

A PED case was discovered this week in Vermont, bringing the total number of states with the disease now to 28, according to Lisa Becton, director of swine health and research for the National Pork Board. PED was the main topic discussed at the swine committee meetings at the National Institute for Animal Agriculture's 2014 Annual Conference held in Omaha, Neb., on Tuesday.

Researchers are looking into both different strains of the existing PED virus and the emerging swine deltacoronavirus, said Rodney "Butch" Baker, a senior clinician at the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Iowa State University. The lab has seen different PED cases which seem to point to two district groups of this disease in the U.S., he said.

"The question we have (is), is this a new virus or an evolution of the existing virus?" Baker said. "Also, would this be from an additional introduction, or is it from the original introduction of the virus?"

Baker said he is inclined to believe these variants of the PED virus are from the original introduction and are not from additional introductions of the disease.

As for swine deltacoronavirus, Baker said this virus is similar to PED and transmissible gastroenteritis. Much like PED, this virus causes vomiting and explosive diarrhea in baby pigs.

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The first case of swine deltacoronavirus was found by ISU's Veterinary Diagnostic Lab in December and 73 cases of this disease have been detected, not a large number of cases yet, Baker said.

The big question he has about this disease is how pathogenic this disease is. Knowing this will go quite a ways in management and/or containment of this disease.

Paul Sundberg, vice president of science and technology for the National Pork Board, said he believes PED cases will fall this summer, as the PED virus is susceptible to heat, UV light and drying. Then, the virus numbers will ramp back up in the winter as hog buildings are closed back up in cooler weather. The big question he has is how many cases will be seen next winter.

Hopefully, the numbers will be lower than this past winter, Sundberg said. This means management practices such as increasing biosecurity have helped to slow the spread of the disease.

Sundberg was also asked about the notion that all hog farms will get the PED virus at some point regardless of the efforts to control or manage the disease. He quickly pointed out some hog producers have had individual barns on the same farm test positive and negative for the disease.

"This is not a ninja virus; biosecurity is so important," Sundberg said, answering the question. "I disagree that you are doomed to get it."

Sundberg also stressed the highly contagious nature of PED. He noted a single gram of hog feces diluted in a roughly 25,000-gallon reservoir of drinking water for hogs will infect the animals drinking from that water.

"This is a viral concentration I don't think we have any experience with," Sundberg said.

Becton said the National Pork Board's main focus continues to be research into PED as well as finding ways to contain and manage the disease. The board established a PED Strategies Task Force which gets input from producers, state pork associations and the American Association of Swine Veterinarians.

The National Pork Board approved over $1 million for PED research toward the end of 2013 and several more projects in early 2014 totaling $800,000.

Becton also said the pork board is working closely with pork producers, show and sale organizers and youth exhibitors as the show and sale season begins before this summer's county and state fairs. The board has met with state veterinarians, FFA and 4-H groups and established several recommendations.

"These shows and sales are important for the industry as it deals with the young people as well as the public," she said. "We just want to point out areas of risk and reduce these risks."

Russ Quinn can be reached at russ.quinn@dtn.com

Russ Quinn can be followed on Twitter @RussQuinnDTN

(CC/AG)

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Russ Quinn

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