This is the first confirmed case of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) in Alberta since February 2022. The disease first arrived in Alberta in 2019.

The affected farm has a three-kilometre and a 10-kilometre buffer zone around it to prevent the disease from spreading. No other farms are located within these zones.

The impacted producer is working with the provincial chief veterinarian officer and Alberta Pork to investigate the source of the outbreak, contain the disease and avoid further spread.

As of February 19, all facilities participating in Alberta Pork’s Environmental Disease Monitoring Program have tested negative for PEDv and porcine deltacoronavirus.

Alberta Pork advised farmers to practice strict biosecurity protocols. Producers should enhance biosecurity on-farm and in transportation and submit all swine manifests, including farm-to-farm movements, in a timely manner. Any place off farm, such as an abattoir, should be considered as a potential source for spreading PEDv.

What is PEDv?

PEDv causes diarrhea and vomiting in pigs. The illness can kill younger pigs in herds that have not been previously exposed to the virus.

PEDv does not pose a risk to human health, food safety or other animals. The disease can be spread by direct contact between infected and non-infected pigs, but also by people’s clothing, boots, vehicles, equipment and any items contaminated by the feces of infected animals.

The disease is provincially regulated in Alberta, and suspect cases must be reported to the provincial authorities. Producers should contact their veterinarians immediately if their animals exhibit signs of PEDv.

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Research into alternative lactation housing system, passive barn-cooling technologies to reduce heat stress, and advanced food safety protocols to improve pork quality was also funded.

Swine Innovation Porc announced four new research projects under its Advancing Swine Research initiative. Swine Innovation Porc is a research coordination organization funded by Canada’s national and provincial pork boards.

The four projects are also supported by the federally-established Pork Promotion and Research Agency. Swine Innovation Porc will contribute up to $488,347 for a total of $1.18 million in total project funding.

The Advanced Swine Research initiative supports one to three-year projects running from 2025 to 2028.

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The chief provincial veterinarian’s office said it was informed by a private veterinarian on Feb. 24 of a suspected case of PED at a farrow-to-finish operation in southern Alberta, with no other cases reported or detected since then.

As of March 10, the province said in a statement, its investigation “continues to find that this is a single, isolated case” and environmental surveillance is still showing negative results. On the affected farm, “the virus elimination process is moving along well.”

Compared to Manitoba and Ontario, both of which have continued to see cases of PED in hogs, Alberta’s hog sector has been relatively unscathed by the disease. Four premises were affected in an outbreak over the first three months of 2019 in the Drumheller and Lethbridge areas; no other cases had been seen in Alberta hogs before or since.

The province said its investigation has looked further into potential sources of the virus at the farm, but cautioned that “pinpointing a source with full confidence is not always possible,” as was the case in 2019.

In the February case, “two likely possibilities have been found, but neither can be ruled as more likely than the other,” the province said.

Testing done at the farm suggested a feed ingredient, given to hogs in the area where disease was initially noticed, could be a potential source, the province said.

The other identified potential source, the province said, was fomites — that is, inanimate objects, such as tools or clothes, on which pathogens can be carried and transferred to new hosts — which were known to have been moved into the barn “in the immediate vicinity where disease initially broke.”

Either way, the province said, both potential sources “serve as a reminder for the importance of implementing a comprehensive biosecurity plan, including feed storage, fomites and people movement.”

The province’s environmental surveillance program for PED has since been “enhanced in key high-traffic swine sites,” the government said, and “all results to date remain negative.”

The coronavirus that causes PED can affect hogs at any age, leading to watery diarrhea and vomiting. It’s most damaging, however, on farrowing operations, as it’s very often fatal to newborn pigs under seven to 10 days old.

PEDv is not known to affect people or any other species and is not considered a food safety issue.

Since it first arrived in Canada on an Ontario farm in 2014, PED has been seen in hogs in four other provinces besides Alberta. Manitoba so far in 2022 alone has seen 55 premises with PED-infected hogs, most recently two finisher barns confirmed with the disease last Friday (April 1).

Ontario so far in 2022 alone has reported seven premises with PED-infected hogs — most recently a nursery barn in Huron County confirmed Wednesday — and two premises with a related disease, porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV).

Quebec and Prince Edward Island also each reported cases following the disease’s arrival in Canada. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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“All of our hog barns are essentially gigantic vacuum cleaners, and the warmer the conditions outside, of course, the greater the suction of our vacuum cleaners,” said Dr. Tony Nikkel, director of veterinary services with the Progressive Group of Companies in Niverville.

Why it matters: Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus can affect pigs of all ages but is often fatal to young piglets. There is no cure, so adhering to strict biosecurity protocols is the best defense against the virus. 

“That is basically the basis of how this virus gets into these barns most of the time.”

Nikkel spoke during a Dec. 7 Manitoba Pork Council-led town hall meeting. The province reported more than 20 cases of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) in 2021, while Ontario reported eight cases. 

Nikkel said the Progressive Group has experienced 35 cases of PED in its barns over the years. When cases were traced, the two most common methods of spread were aerosol and movement of PED-positive pigs into a farm. Loadout docks at barns were the third-highest route of transmission.

In 2018 and 2019, the company tested dust in the attics and air-intakes of barns with breaking PED cases. Some were positive for the virus.

“We recognized dust is probably a significant form or method of spread of this virus,” Nikkel said.

PED viruses can attach to water vapour and dust particles in the barn and be blown out with exhaust fans. They may then spread to more dust, water vapour, mud and snow.

Nikkel said reports show the virus can remain viable on dry feed for a week, and likely would have a similar lifespan on dust. Cool temperatures may allow it to survive longer. The goal is to reduce the contaminated dirt that barns pull in.

By the time they reach barns, most livestock transports have significant amounts of dust on the rear of their trailers, which then touch the barn, Nikkel said. That dust can be limited by ensuring all panels are in place on a clean truck en route to a farm.

It is also good practice to rinse the rear of livestock trailers with disinfectant before they back into the dock. Some commercial haulers carry a sprayer with disinfectant for this purpose, Nikkel said, but it’s advisable to have a backup sprayer on hand.

He also suggested disinfecting the outside of the loadout dock before any trailer arrives.

Provincial veterinarian Glen Duizer said commercial washers take three times as long to clean trailers as producers do, so the latter should take more time at the job if they wash their own trailers.

It’s a good practice to simply assume that PED is in the farmyard and driveway and act accordingly. Nikkel said the Progressive Group has begun dust-proofing farm lanes and loadout dock areas with calcium. He also suggested spreading hydrated lime over the dock area to kill pathogens that may drop from a trailer or from drivers’ boots and clothing if they’re not changing them as they should.

Keep loadout docks’ bumpers and seals in good condition because they can collect manure and straw, he added.

Turn off the vacuum

Farms can also reduce the loadout area’s vacuum effect. Ideally, producers would reverse the vacuum and pressurize the loadout room, said Nikkel, though he recognized that’s not always possible.

This could be done by using fans installed in the interior hallway wall or attic and blowing into the loadout room. The loadout interior door would be closed to pressurize the room, otherwise the loadout fans would compete with fans in the main barn.

It’s good practice to move pigs into the loadout room, close the hallway door, pressurize the loadout room and then open the loadout dock door, Nikkel said. If workers need to bring in more pigs, they should close the loadout door before reopening the hallway door.

If the loadout room can’t be pressurized, Nikkel suggested minimizing the vacuum effect by closing as many doors as possible in the barn and moving as many pigs as possible into the hall before opening the loadout door.

Even then, it’s best to have backup biosecurity measures in place, he added. He suggested treating the loadout room as a separate space from the rest of the barn, designating staff to work in that room during shipping and receiving, and requiring them to use separate clothes, coveralls and boots in that area.

Ideally, the loadout room would have its own pressure washer line hookup so the wand and hose aren’t dragged through the barn.

Geralyn Wichers is a reporter with the Manitoba Co-operator. Her article appeared in the Dec. 16, 2021 issue.

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Manitoba Pork announced Wednesday that the last of the premises to report a PED outbreak in that province in 2020 has now achieved “presumptive negative” status.

Manitoba has reported 192 premises with PED since the disease arrived there in 2014. But no hog herds in the province are currently reporting positive for the disease, the agency said.

“Coming into spring 2021, it is critical that we do not let our guard down and enhance biosecurity on our farms to prevent PED and any other pathogen from entering the farm,” Manitoba Pork said Wednesday.

In Ontario, where the PED virus (PEDv) was first confirmed in Canada in January 2014 and went on to cause outbreaks at over 150 sites, just four farms are currently considered positive for PED, according to Swine Health Ontario.

Those include a farrow-to-finish operation and a finishing farm in Lambton County, a farrow-to-finish site at Middlesex and another hog operation in the Niagara region.

As of Dec. 29, 2020, Quebec was reporting just one site positive for PED, a finishing operation in the Estrie that had been confirmed on May 7 last year.

Alberta has had just four PED outbreaks in hogs, all in early 2019, and all of which have since been deemed presumptive negative, according to the Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network. Prince Edward Island, the only other affected province, had just one outbreak in 2014 in a herd since deemed negative.

According to Manitoba Agriculture, a hog farm which has previously been confirmed positive for PED can be deemed “presumptive negative” after the farm has put measures in place to eliminate PEDv from all pigs and pig contact areas and the virus is confirmed absent through repeated animal and environmental testing.

Depending on herd type and stage of production, a PED-infected premises can take four to six months to reach presumptive-negative status, but PED risk may still remain in the manure storage system on a presumptive-negative farm, the province said.

The coronavirus that causes PED can affect hogs at any age, leading to watery diarrhea and vomiting. It’s most damaging on farrowing operations, as it’s often fatal to newborn pigs under seven to 10 days old.

PEDv is not known to affect people or any other species and is not considered a food safety issue. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Coming out of a Thursday morning meeting with hog producers in Winnipeg, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced $482,158 from the AgriRisk Initiatives (ARI) arm of the federal/provincial Canadian Agricultural Partnership ag policy funding framework, for a two-year pilot spearheaded by the Manitoba Pork Council.

It’s hoped that with the funding, “we can develop some private sector solutions to mitigate the economic impact of diseases and market fluctuations,” council chair George Matheson said in the government’s release Thursday.

Such a risk management plan, the government said, would go help hog farms “recover from the devastation caused by potential outbreaks of diseases, such as porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED).”

Such a plan, the government said, could also include measures to help producers cover cleaning and disinfection costs “so the producer is able to recover as quickly as possible.”

The idea is “still at the early stages of development,” the government said in a release, but if successful, “we will ensure that the project results will have application to all pork producers in Canada,” Matheson said.

If expanded nationwide, the plan would run on the understanding that “the bigger the pool of participants, the more affordable it would be to individual producers.”

The idea follows the path taken by Canada’s provincial poultry and egg sectors, which Matheson said “has led the way in developing risk management tools for specific diseases that affect their sector” such as avian influenza.

If such insurance were already in place, Matheson said, its main benefit would be in response to future PED outbreaks. Had an affected producer been able to buy in, “it would have helped a great deal, of course, to mitigate the financial loss.”

Manitoba alone has reported 189 on-farm outbreaks of PED, mainly in its southeast, since the disease first arrived in the province in 2014.

As of Feb. 4, 148 of those properties are considered “presumptive negative” for PED, following cleaning and disinfection as well as further testing of the affected herds and surfaces in affected barns, according to the provincial ag department.

In its past outbreaks, Matheson said, the number of pigs lost to PED in the province “was getting close to five per cent” or 400,000 head.

Such a product would be meant to respond specifically to the needs of producers in an outbreak, Bibeau said. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency would cover some of the costs relating to animal losses but “there are a lot of other costs that the farmers would have to face.”

There’s no such insurance product of this kind right now in Manitoba “or, as far as we know, in any significant way, in North America, so it’d be a first,” Matheson said.

The study being funded is meant to create the model to develop such a product, Manitoba Pork general manager Andrew Dickson said. The model would determine the level of premiums and coverage available, “and then we can adjust it to what the market’s prepared to pay.”

The resulting risk management tool, Bibeau added, would need to be “both effective and affordable for producers.”

The idea is to have individual producers buy coverage tailored to their particular operations, Dickson added, but the pork council will also examine the idea of having a product it could buy on behalf of producers “if that’s what they want to do.”

Developers of the Canadian poultry and egg sectors’ insurance products will be helping the council develop its product for the pork sector, Dickson said. “We’re doing it in Manitoba because we need to model something, but the intent is to have it apply to the country as a whole.”

Bibeau and the Manitoba producers at Thursday’s meeting also discussed industry preparation against African swine fever “in case it ever occurs in this country,” Matheson said.

Bibeau noted CFIA has tightened the rules on the import of animal feed from ASF-infected countries, while the Canada Border Services Agency has moved to boost the number of detector dogs to cut the likelihood of illegal entry of pork products.

Federal, provincial and industry officials, she said, are conducting “extensive preparedness exercises to improve co-ordination and response.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The chief provincial veterinarian’s office (OCPV) on Monday reported that the agriculture department’s lab in Edmonton on Jan. 22 found a weak PED positive in a sample taken via the provincial environmental surveillance program.

That said, no new cases of PED have been found in hogs on Alberta farms to go with that environmental positive, the provincial government noted in a separate notice.

The province has “promptly implemented the Alberta response plan to investigate potential sources of this weak positive result” and “actions have been taken at the sampling site to mitigate any further risks of potential exposure,” the OCPV said in a statement for hog producers.

“This finding demonstrates the value of the surveillance program in providing early detections of the virus and reinforcing the risk that remains out there,” the OCPV said.

It also “serves as a reminder that at any time, a site that receives pigs faces continuing threat to be contaminated and test positive, which reinforces the importance of biosecurity at the farm level being maintained as the last line of defense for your herds.”

Alberta was relatively untouched by PED up until 2019, when four cases were confirmed in hogs on Alberta farms between January and March, but no further such cases have since appeared.

Producers and “industry partners directly affected by this discovery” have been notified, Alberta Pork said in a separate statement Monday, noting “all relevant parties are co-operating.”

Alberta Pork, in the same statement, again urged producers to “always practice proper biosecurity on-farm and during animal transportation” and to “properly” wash transport trailers and equipment.

All swine manifests, including farm-to-farm movements, should be submitted to Alberta Pork “in a timely manner,” the hog producer agency said, as biosecurity and traceability are “important parts of effective disease prevention.”

The PED virus (PEDv) does not affect people and is not a food safety risk. It causes diarrhea and vomiting in pigs and can lead to high mortality rates in herds of very young pigs not previously exposed.

PEDv spreads usually by direct contact between infected and non-infected hogs but can also be tracked in on clothing, boots, vehicles, equipment or other items that contacted feces from infected animals.

PED is not a federally regulated disease, but is provincially regulated in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario. The virus’ first confirmed appearance in Canada was on an Ontario farm in 2014 and on-farm cases since then have mainly been in Ontario and Manitoba.

The most recent of Ontario’s on-farm cases appeared last month and earlier this month in Oxford and Perth counties respectively. Manitoba confirmed its most recent case in a nursery barn in its southeast region in November. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The provincial agriculture ministry confirmed the new case Friday, marking Quebec’s first since May 2015 and its 17th since the disease first appeared in the province in February 2014.

The Monteregie, the region of southwestern Quebec on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, has been home to all but two of Quebec’s PED cases.

Le Bulletin des agriculteurs reported Tuesday that the hog operation, with about 3,700 weanling pigs, is in the St-Damase area just south of St-Hyacinthe and has been quarantined.

The weanlings at the farm all came from the same farrowing operation, Le Bulletin said, noting no clinical signs of the disease had been seen at the farrowing site but tests were underway to confirm its PED status.

Caused by a coronavirus, PED leads to severe diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration in affected pigs and can infect up to 100 per cent of a previously unexposed herd, with mortality rates of up to 100 per cent in very young suckling piglets.

According to Quebec’s provincial swine health team (EQSP), the disease presents in weanlings and growing hogs as widespread diarrhea, vomiting and loss of appetite, with mortality rates of one to five per cent in infected groups. In fully-grown adult hogs, mortality rates run below one per cent.

PED is known to be infectious only to swine and is not considered a food safety or human health risk.

Quebec’s ag ministry, on its website, urged producers to immediately contact their veterinarians if clinical signs of PED appear among hogs in their barns, and also to call the EQSP at 1-866-218-3042.

Elsewhere in Canada, Ontario has seen 124 on-farm PED outbreaks since 2014, including seven since the beginning of 2019; its three most recent cases were confirmed Feb. 20.

Manitoba, which has had 108 such cases since 2014, has confirmed two so far in 2019, the most recent on March 7.

Alberta has confirmed just four such outbreaks in its hog herd, all in the last three months. Prince Edward Island reported one outbreak in 2015.

Saskatchewan has turned up environmental samples of the PED virus, but no cases in hogs to date.

Following the appearance of PED in Alberta, Saskatchewan’s ag ministry reiterated it’s important to treat all commingling sites, such as assembly yards and packing plants, as potentially contaminated with PED; all transports should be “thoroughly cleaned and disinfected” before returning to the farm.

“If you have not reviewed your biosecurity protocols with your veterinarian lately, now is the time to do it,” the Saskatchewan ministry said. –– Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Officials with the provincial ag department and Alberta Pork haven’t said where the fourth case is located, nor how far it is from the three southern Alberta properties where outbreaks in hogs were also found so far this year.

Any producers within a 60-km buffer zone surrounding the fourth affected property “will be notified separately and provided additional biosecurity instruction,” Alberta Pork said in a statement Friday.

Past that, the ag department said Monday, “all producers in Alberta are advised to increase their biosecurity.”

The province’s three other cases so far were announced in January, February and earlier this month respectively, all on 300- to 600-sow farrow-to-finish operations. In all cases, Alberta Pork said Thursday in a separate release, pig movements were stopped “immediately” following discovery of the disease in hogs.

The first confirmed case was discovered on a farm northeast of Calgary, while the second and third were on farms near Lethbridge, about 30 km apart and about 300 km away from the first case, provincial officials said.

No sources have yet been found for the virus’ arrival in the province and “any possible connection between the outbreaks remains uncertain.”

The first farm has since “emptied its inventory” while the second and third “are in the process of cleaning up and eliminating the disease while animals remain on-farm.”

Alberta Pork on Thursday quoted chief provincial veterinarian Keith Lehman as saying differences exist between Alberta and other known provinces where PED has been found.

Alberta’s hog farms, for example, are farther apart, and assembly yards “routinely test negative for diseases.”

Ontario, which has seen 124 on-farm PED outbreaks since 2014, has had seven since the beginning of 2019; its three most recent cases were confirmed Feb. 20. Manitoba, which has had 108 such cases since 2014, has confirmed two so far in 2019, the most recent on March 7.

PEDv is a coronavirus which leads to severe diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration in affected pigs and can infect up to 100 per cent of a previously unexposed herd, with mortality rates of up to 100 per cent in very young suckling piglets.

A provincially reportable disease in Alberta since Canada’s first outbreaks in 2014, PED is known to be infectious only to swine and is not a food safety or human health risk. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The provincial government and hog producer agency Alberta Pork on Monday announced the first of two cases reported Friday was in fact a “false positive.”

Specifically, Alberta Pork said Monday, the investigating lab in the third case “identified the virus in a sample, but pigs at the formerly-suspected affected premise have shown no signs of illness.”

False positives, the agency said, are “infrequent but can be expected occasionally in disease investigations, due to the sensitivity and concern for positive results.”

“Investigation into possible explanations around these results is underway,” the province said in a separate statement Monday.

Alberta Pork said it apologized for “any confusion or alarm” resulting from Friday’s notice.

As of now, Alberta Pork said, “we can confirm three outbreaks of PED in Alberta in 2019” so far. Those include the other case reported Friday as well as the cases confirmed Jan. 7 and Feb. 21.

The province and other stakeholders are “monitoring the situation to determine a source for all outbreaks, but none have been found yet,” the agency said.

Any possible connection between the three outbreaks “remains uncertain,” the agency added.

Neither the province nor Alberta Pork have yet said whether Friday’s confirmed case is geographically close to either of the first two.

The February case, however, is “far away” from the January case, Alberta Pork’s quality assurance and production manager Javier Bahamon said Feb. 22 via email.

Alberta’s hog herd, up until January, had managed to avoid any on-farm outbreaks of PED. Almost 250 other on-farm PED outbreaks have been confirmed in Canada since its arrival in early 2014, mostly on hog operations in southern Ontario and southeastern Manitoba.

The PED virus (PEDv) is a coronavirus which, once introduced in a herd, causes vomiting, watery diarrhea and dehydration in infected hogs. Mortality rates run up to 100 per cent in infected nursing-age piglets but are much lower in growing hogs, which generally present with milder diarrhea. There is no known human health risk or food safety risk associated with PED. –– Glacier FarmMedia Network

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