Jennifer Lehr in consultation with Dick Hesse
A virus not previous reported in the United States is causing the death of hundreds of thousands neonatal pigs. Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus was first described in England in 1971. Since then it has been the cause of outbreaks of diarrheal disease and death of piglets in Europe and Asia. Most notably a deadly outbreak in China, has been ongoing since 2009. This virus was confirm in the US in May 2013 and is present in Kansas.
PEDV is a coronavirus in the same family as Transmissible Gastroenteritis Virus (TGE). Although the clinical signs of these to viruses are very similar, there is no cross protective immunity. PEDV and TGE both cause vomiting and diarrhea in pigs with severity of symptoms ranging from very mild in adult animals to deadly in nursing and recently weaned pigs. In fact 100% mortality in nursery pigs is not uncommon. Therefore this virus will have enormous economic impact on the pork industry.
PEDV is not categorized as a foreign animal disease in the United States. However due to its novel nature and the numerous unanswered questions regarding transmission, organs affected and host immune response to infection, veterinarians are advised to remain vigilant for signs of this disease and submit samples for diagnosis or confirmation of the cause of death in young pigs.
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