New PED outbreak not letting up in Manitoba

Manitoba’s porcine epidemic diarrhea virus outbreak seems to be echoing previous big outbreaks, pushing the industry to try to lock it down fast.

“It’s trending very unnervingly close to our 2017 and 2019 cases and where that went at that point,” said Jenelle Hamblin of the Manitoba Pork Council in an online meeting Dec. 7.

“We’re hoping that curve can come down in the coming weeks.”

As of Dec. 13, 24 Manitoba pig production sites were proven infected with PED, which is lethal for piglets and disrupts pig movement and slaughter, but poses no threat to humans or most older pigs.

That’s a quick increase from the 14 reported the week before and similar to the quick surge in cases that occurred in 2017 and 2019. The outbreak is also similar in geographical distribution, hitting mainly the “high risk area” of southeastern Manitoba that has many hog operations close together.

But the future is not yet written on where the outbreak goes, regardless of the precedents.

“I think we probably want to choose a different ending if it’s that type of book,” said Hamblin.

Farms within five kilometres of an infected site are expected to test their animals for PED before moving any off-farm. Nursery operations close to the five kilometre zone are being checked for infections too, as part of an early warning system, which has been done since 2019.

Current cases include seven sow operations, two nursery operations, eight finishing barns and two farrow-to-finish operations.

While the trends don’t look good on paper, Hamblin said people have learned much since the previous two outbreaks. That offers hope that the curve can be flattened before a trendline peak.

“When we started to see breaks in that high-risk area, many producers were on high alert and have implemented some level of biocontainment even before they had seen clinical signs on their farm,” said Hamblin.

“This has helped lock down things earlier.”

Producers are cleaning trucks better, protecting barns against dust and transporting pigs more safely, she said.