There has been an outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea
virus in a hog finishing barn in the Niagara Region.
No more details are immediately available.
It comes right after the Ontario Pork Industry Council said
the Nov. 20 outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus at a nursery barn in
Middlesex County “originated outside the province.”
It does not say where it came from or how it got to the
Ontario barn.
In its regular update on the disease, the council says there
are now 100 premises enrolled in its ARC&E (area control and elimination)
program, that 52 of them are now “presumed negatives” meaning the disease is
gone and that it anticipates all of them will be clean by the end of the year.
It has 39 of the 64 primary outbreak sites enrolled in its
ARC&E program and another 61 that are presumed to have been infected
because they are secondary barns or farms with close links to the primary
sites.
The council is cautioning farmers to step up their vigilance
because the virus survives in cold weather.
At a minimum, all people traffic ought to be subjected to
the Danish entry protocol – i.e. shower in, shower out and change clothing and
footwear – and all trucks ought to be washed and disinfected before coming to
the farm.
This virus in devastating to newborn piglets, killing
virtually all of them.
Last winter it wiped out about eight per cent of the hog
population in the United States.
Ontario is by far the hardest-hit province in Canada.
Quebec recently reported its second outbreak. There has been
one on Prince Edward Island and several in Manitoba.
