February 24, 2014

Quebec reports first case of porcine epidemic diarrhoea

The first case of the deadly pig virus, porcine epidemic diarrhoea (PED) was detected at a farm in the Monteregie region, south of Montreal, Quebec, as announced by the country's Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

PED is a virus that infects piglets and causes diarrhoea, dehydration and sometimes death. If infected, nursing pigs suffer from a 100% mortality rate. Other ages of pigs are affected as well, but don't necessarily die.

Currently, there is no cure for PED but poses no risk to humans or other animals.

In order to ensure that the virus will not spread to other farms in the area, the farm has been quarantined and bio-security measures have been undertaken and the situation is under control, according to the ministry.

On February 20, Quebec's ministry of agriculture, fisheries and food mandated that all cases of PED in Quebec be reported immediately.

The virus was first reported in North America last May, when an outbreak was detected in the Midwestern US. Since then, PED cases have been confirmed in Ontario, Manitoba and 22 US states.