The Manitoba Chief Veterinary Office (CVO) and industry partners would like to remind mixed animal veterinary teams that swine diseases more commonly found in commercial production systems have the potential to also affect smaller scale swine operations and pet pig properties. A recent Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) detection in a smaller commercial operation likely occurred when a producer came in contact with the disease at a provincial slaughter facility.

For those less familiar with the swine industry, PEDv is a highly transmissible viral disease that causes significant economic and animal welfare impacts. The disease is an ongoing risk in the swine industry, with high traffic commercial sites, such as assembly yards where cull sows are collected and large slaughter facilities receiving sows from outside of Manitoba, often test PCR positive on environmental sampling. Although PEDv can infect all production stages of swine, young piglets are the most heavily impacted and high levels of mortality are usually experienced in 7–10-day old piglets. Other signs noted in infected pigs include vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration. Pig owners are encouraged to discuss practical disease prevention (biosecurity) plans tailored to their unique farm system or yard with their herd veterinarian. Veterinarians with questions about PEDv or biosecurity for small holder swine and mixed animal veterinary clinics are welcome to reach out to the CVO at chiefveterinaryoffice@gov.mb.ca or 1-204-945-7663.