Sows that have had mild infections of Porcine
Epidemic Diarrhea virus are passing immunities on to their piglets, according
to recent research reports from the University of Minnesota.
The PED virus infected about half of the U.S.
swine breeding herds between July, 2013, and July, 2014, according to estimates
from the Swine Health Monitoring Project.
In the absence of effective vaccines or standard
control protocols, there is an urgent need for evidence of cross-protective
immune countermeasures.
The research at the University of Minnesota involved
checking three-day-old piglets born to sows exposed seven months earlier to a
mild strain of PED.
They challenged these piglets with a virulent
PED isolate and found that all of the piglets survived, says the American
Association of Swine Veterinarians.
Piglet death rates from sows that had not been
immunized were 33 per cent, and their morbidity rate was 47 per cent.
