May 20, 2024

Porcine deltacoronavirus hits farm in southeast of Manitoba, Canada

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) has been confirmed on one farm in the southeast of Manitoba, Canada, the Manitoba Pork Council said.

PDCoV, which is in the same family as both porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) and transmissible gastroenteritis, presents similarly to its more serious cousin, but it does not cause the over 90% piglet mortality that PED is known for.

"Delta (coronavirus) does show less severe symptoms," said Jenelle Hamblin, the council's manager of swine health. "Same clinical impression, but certainly not as intense as with PED … It can cause mortality in piglets, but it would have to be a pretty severe case."

Sick animals will have bouts of diarrhea, vomiting or just generally go off feed, but tend to recover well, especially older animals, she noted.

"It would be a series of symptoms and they would recover and move on towards market weights no problem," Hamblin added.

Regardless of the milder illness, the affected farm has still been placed under biocontainment, she said. The case was detected due to its shared symptomology with PED. Manitoba's pork sector is on high alert against the more serious illness, which has seen a string of serious outbreaks since 2017 and significant disruption and loss for affected farms, particularly those dealing with vulnerable piglets.

"(We) really would like to acknowledge the vigilance and the diligence that our producers are showing related to awareness for PED and monitoring for PED and acting quickly," Hamblin said.

The Manitoba Pork Council hopes to wipe out 96% of PED cases in the southeastern high-risk zone by 2027.

- The Western Producer