Manitoba’s
chief veterinarian has confirmed the province’s first positive
porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) sample since January, 2015.
The
Manitoba Pork Council said the outbreak is in a batch-farrow sow
barn. Producers within a five-kilometre radius of the site have been
alerted.
Manitoba
has remained disease free for more than a year even though trucks
haul about 70,000 piglets a week to the U.S. where the virus is
widespread.
Manitoba
hog-industry leaders have been highly critical of a federal
government requirements that trucks be washed in the U.S. where
washwater is often heavily contaminated. The industry wants the
trucks washed with clean water in Canada.
There
have only been five on-farm cases of PED in Manitoba, with the most
recent confirmation on January 21, 2015. As of November 27, 2015, all
premises in the province that had previously tested positive were
presumed negative according to protocol developed by the province’s
chief veterinarian and swine veterinarians.
