PED virus not a human health concern
Everyone has had bad days, when you can’t seem to catch a break and things just aren’t going the way you need them too. The Ontario agriculture industry is no stranger to tough times, and the past weeks have pushed the swine industry to prove its resilience once again. In the past 21 days, there have been 11 reported cases of the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) virus across Ontario. Professor Bob Friendship, a specialized pig veterinarian at the University of Guelph, pointed out that there are emotional challenges for farmers whose barns have contracted PED. “In the first two or three weeks of life, when they’re nursing their mothers, they dehydrate very quickly and it’s very hard to keep them alive. Seeing all your pigs sick and dying…it’s pretty hard to face on the farm and it will last for about a month,” said Friendship.
For farms that have tested positive for PED, the economic effects are devastating. Without piglets to restock, the herd farms lose months worth of hard work and profit. On a national level, the effects of the virus could be incredibly damaging for Canada’s $3.5 billion pork industry. Amy Cronin, chair of the Ontario Pork Board of Directors, was quoted saying, “We estimate this, if it were to spread past Ontario throughout Canada, within one year, it would cost $45 million to the Canadian pork industry.” Both Cronin and Friendship confirm that the virus poses absolutely no risk to food safety or human health.
The PED virus causes vomiting and diarrhea in pigs and is transmitted through the oral consumption of infected feces. The PED virus thrives in cold weather and can survive for weeks or months in the snow. This means that even with added biosecurity measures, the spread of the virus is difficult to track. The virus can be spread via pigs, trucks, humans, and in some cases, the feet of birds.
The original strain of the virus was first found in Europe in the early 1970s and was not as deadly as the one Ontario farmers are battling currently. The virus then spread to China, and was first discovered in North America in May of 2013 on a swine operation in Iowa. It has since spread to twenty-three of the fifty-two states, and there are now thousands of reported cases across the United States.
PED virus is not transferable to humans, which means that it doesn’t affect human health and people are not able to contract the disease. The PED virus is classified as a coronavirus, and only affects the pig’s gastrointestinal tract. Because the virus never enters the muscle tissue, pork is still safe for human consumption.
Suckling piglets are the most susceptible to PED virus, and there is 100 per cent mortality rate within five days due to severe dehydration. Herd immunity will begin to mitigate the harms within three weeks of the first infection. While older pigs have a much lower mortality rate, the growth rate of the surviving pigs is seriously affected, and this leads to an additional loss for the farmer.
Farmers are doing everything within their power to terminate the virus before it continues to spread. Danish entry systems are standard in all barns, and this ensures that boots and coveralls worn in the barn do not leave the premises, and that anybody entering must change their footwear and coveralls before entering the barn. Trucks and processing plants are also being thoroughly cleaned and disinfected between loads to further ensure that the spread of the virus is stopped.
Canadian agriculture has a reputation for having high-standards and a loyal, hardworking group of people dedicated to providing a safe product for consumption. So tonight, when you sit down to dinner, think of the farmers who are providing your meal and put pork on your fork.