Ontario pork producers shouldn’t be alarmed after a spike in Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) in Ontario in February, said Ontario Pork’s technical veterinarian.
There were six new Ontario cases of PEDV in February, the most in any month since April, 2014.
While pork producers should be always concerned and keep an eye out for the disease, Mike DeGroot said it’s too early to panic that Ontario is in a mini-breakout of PEDV. He added that like the cold and flu in humans, PEDV transmission speeds up in cold weather.
“It’s worthwhile monitoring, and if March turns out a similar way (with a high number of cases), then maybe we’ve got to figure out why we’ve got more positive sites, but it’s too early right now,” he said.
The six confirmed cases were found:
1. In a Waterloo County finisher barn on Feb. 1
2. In a Bruce County finisher barn on Feb. 8
3. In a Grey County farrow-to-finish barn on Feb. 14
4. In a Huron County farrow-to-finish barn on Feb. 20
5. In a Huron County finisher barn on Feb. 20
6. In a Perth County finisher barn on Feb. 20
The disease causes watery diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration and can kill 50 to 100 per cent of young pigs.
These cases bring the total number of Ontario cases to 124, and a total of seven in 2019. There were 12 in Ontario last year.
