Recently, Arizona reported the first confirmed case of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea virus (PEDv). This brings the total number of US states affected to 27 having reported at least one confirmed case of PED. Also, now it has emerged that Japan as well as Colombia has been affected by PEDv.
In Japan, biosecurity measures are being carried out since the confirmation of PEDv. An outbreak in Japan occurred in Oita prefecture, with a suspected case in Yame, Fukuoka prefectue. The country’s pork producers are taking steps to be more informed about PEDv and taking preventative measures to protect the farms from being affected by the virus. A voluntary ban on the movement of hogs near the area has been announced. Japan previously confirmed PEDv last year with the first case in Japan in the 1980s. After an absence of seven years, PED virus reappeared in October 2013 in the Okinawa prefecture, followed by the prefectures of Kagoshima, Miyazaki, and Ibaraki, reports state.
In Colombia, the first suspected case of PEDv was reported in Huila. Now Meta and Cundinamarca regions are also under suspicion of an outbreak. Luis Humberto Martinez-Lacouture, manager of the Colombian Agricultural Institute, said that a sanitary emergency state was declared to manage and control the outbreak.
“This is a disease that causes diarrhoea, vomiting, and high mortality rates in piglets, symptoms compatible with porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), a disease considered very unusual in Colombia,” he added. Currently, strict biosecurity on farms is called for.
See Editor’s View on PEDv moving into Latin America