Seven farms have confirmed cases as of Monday, Manitoba Pork says
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Almost 10 hog farms in Manitoba have confirmed cases of Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus.
The first case of the year was confirmed Oct. 25 in a sow barn near Blumenort. This marked the province’s first newly reported case of PED since July 2020.
The second case, at a finisher barn, was confirmed four days later.
Since then, there have been even more cases, said Cam Dahl, general manager of Manitoba Pork.
"On October 25th, we did have our first case identified. Since that time, we have had more cases come in,” he said, PortageOnline reported on Monday. “We're now up to seven confirmed cases of PED. I do expect that number to go up a little bit. The cases aren't just confined to one geographic cluster and they're not just confined to one ownership group or one or two ownership groups. They're spread out geographically and they're spread out through the industry. We are considering this an outbreak."
With its seven cases, Manitoba has already surpassed 2020, which had a total of three PED confirmations.
In 2019, Manitoba had more than 80 confirmed cases of PED.
And with the virus at the top of minds of producers, they should revisit their biosecurity measures to protect the pigs Dahl said.
"We really do encourage producers in all parts of the province to sit down with their employees and go over their biosecurity protocols,” he said. “The way we contain this and prevent spread is through strong biosecurity measures."
Manitoba officials continue to test sites where PED confirmations occurred.
As of Nov. 15, 188 of the 201 total cases the province previously confirmed to have PED are now designated as PED presumptive negative.
This status “is assigned to a premises where the affected producer has implemented strict measures to eliminate PED from all pigs and pig contact areas and have confirmed the virus has been eliminated through repeated animal and environmental testing,” Manitoba Agriculture says.