The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) warms that the spread of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) will be greater than expected. The number of U.S. states affected has increased to 25 with the addition of Montana and Idaho and the number of Canadian provinces affected has increased to three. The total confirmed cases (a confirmed case being multiple animals affected at a single farm or at several locations) reached 3,528 as of February 15th. There is no official death toll at this time but traders estimate that the virus has killed upwards of 4 million pigs and some U.S. meat companies are reporting that the virus is driving up hog prices and has cut pork supplies by 2% – 4%. Research has concluded that the virus is spread orally and can be transmitted by trucks, water, boots and clothing, however feed containing porcine by-products has been found to be contaminated. The feed has been recalled and work is ongoing to determine the cause of contamination. Vaccines are just becoming available and 100,000 – 150,000 doses have been reserved to ship to Canada.
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