Porcine epidemic diarrhea has appeared on two hog operations in southern Ontario, after nearly eight months with no new cases in the province.
Ontario Pork reported the province’s 100th and 101st cases of PED on Feb. 22 and March 7, at finisher barns in Middlesex County and in the Haldimand-Norfolk district respectively.
Ontario — home to most of Canada’s on-farm PED cases since the virus first appeared in the country in January 2014 — hadn’t seen an outbreak since June 30 last year.
That case, at a nursery-finisher operation in Huron County, was the last of 14 confirmed in the province in 2016.
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On-farm cases have also been reported in Manitoba and Quebec, though not since last fall and 2015 respectively, plus one case in Prince Edward Island. No clinical on-farm cases have yet been recorded in Canada west of Winnipeg.
The PED virus causes severe dehydration and diarrhea in pigs and is generally fatal in very young animals, while older animals generally recover. The virus doesn’t transmit to humans or other animals and is not a food safety risk.
The virus is believed to spread relatively easily in colder weather. — AGCanada.com Network
