Pig Virus: New PEDv Strain Hits America, Pork Prices Could Rise Once Again

A deadly new strain of the pig virus had been identified by researchers. The third strain of the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus, or PEDv, has been found in a hog herd in Minnesota. The new pig virus strain is reportedly at last as severe as the initial strain which was detected in America in 2013.

PEDv strains are being tracked by the CDC. The third strain is a mutation from the original pig virus strain. A second and less virulent strain was identified earlier this year. Scientific researchers reportedly believe that the original pig virus strain likely mutated due to an increased immunity response in hog herds.

Douglas Marthaler, assistant professor of veterinary population medicine at the University of Minnesota, said the PEDv virus and other similar viruses often tend to evolve as they replicate. “The virus is always changing,” Marthaler said. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the pig virus wiped out 10 percent of the hog population in the United States in 2013 and had a devastating impact on the pig population and pork prices.

Minnesota hog nutritionist John Goihl said one farmer in his state lost approximately 7,500 piglets not long after they were born due to the PEDv pork virus in 2014. In North Carolina, pig farmer Henry Moore reportedly lost 12,000 piglets in less than a single month during the same time frame. The string of pork virus deaths also hit Oklahoma farmers hard. John Prestage lost a total of 30,000 piglets from the fall of 2013 to the spring of 2014.

Approximately 7 million pigs died due to PEDv in the United States from the fall of 2013 through the spring of 2014, according to Paragon Economics, an Iowa-based group. Organization president and National Pork Board consultant Steve Meyer said the USDA data on the pork virus established the nation’s hog head around 63 million in March 2014.

It remains unknown how the pig virus causes uncontrollable diarrhea in piglets. PEDv had previously been present only in Asia and Europe. Researchers do not yet know if the third strain of the pig virus has spread outside of Minnesota.

The pig virus is believed to spread from pig to pig via contact with manure, which contains the PEDv virus. The virus strains can also be spread from an infected farm via contaminated material found on farm trucks and agriculture equipment.

PEDv is not a threat to either food safety or humans, the United States Department of Agriculture maintains. What do you think about the strain of the pig virus?

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