North Dakota has become the seventh U.S./Canadian border state with a case of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) in its hog herd.
The lone case so far was confirmed this week on a hog farm in the eastern part of the state, North Dakota State University said Thursday.
As of Sunday, before North Dakota’s confirmation, the PED virus (PEDv) had been confirmed on at least one hog farm in each of 25 states, affecting a total of 3,856 farms, according to the U.S. National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN).
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Among other states bordering Canada, as of Sunday, Montana and Idaho had reported one case each; New York had reported three; Wisconsin, nine; Michigan, 42; and Minnesota, 594.
Remaining border states not yet reporting the virus in hogs as of Sunday included Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Washington. Heavily affected states further south include Iowa (1,356 farms), North Carolina (436), Oklahoma (307) and Illinois (245).
PEDv causes severe diarrhea, hydration and vomiting in pigs. The mortality rate in very young piglets from herds not previously exposed to PEDv is nearly 100 per cent, while mortality in older groups of swine is very low though the older animals typically show symptoms, NDSU said.
The virus is not considered a risk to human health, nor to food safety.
PEDv is now estimated to have killed over four million U.S. pigs since it arrived in the country in April last year, having previously been seen only in Asia and Europe. The virus also arrived in Mexico’s hog herd last summer.
In Canada, where PEDv was confirmed for the first time last month, the virus has since been confirmed in hogs on 26 farms: 23 in Ontario and one each in Manitoba, Quebec and Prince Edward Island.
Ontario’s two most recent cases appeared on farrow-to-finish operations in Oxford and Essex counties on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
“For producers impacted by the virus, (PEDv) can mean serious economic losses, as well as the psychological damage of dealing with the production losses associated with PEDv,” NDSU extension swine specialist David Newman said in a release Thursday. — AGCanada.com Network
