Aporkalypse? Outbreak of deadly pig virus spreads to PA

[dothedd]

Reuters
8:07 a.m. EDT, June 19, 2013

CHICAGO, June 18 (Reuters) - A swine virus deadly to young pigs, one never before seen in North America, is spreading rapidly across the United States and proving harder to control than previously believed.

The virus was diagnosed earlier this month for the first time in Arkansas, Kansas and Pennsylvania. Previously, the virus had been found in barns in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

The virus now has spread to 13 states - with more than 100 positive cases to date - since it was first diagnosed in the United States last month, said Montserrat Torremorell, the Allen D. Leman Chair in Swine Health and Productivity at the University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary Medicine.

While the virus has not tended to kill older pigs, mortality among very young pigs infected in U.S. farms is commonly 50 percent, and can be as high at 100 percent, say veterinarians and scientists who are studying the outbreak.

The strain of the virus, known as Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus, that is making its way across the nation's hog farms and slaughterhouses is 99.4 percent similar in genetic structure to the PEDV that hit China's herds last year, the researchers say. After it was first diagnosed in China in 2010, PEDV overran southern China and killed more than 1 million piglets, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal.

The virus does not pose any health risk to humans or other animals. The meat from PEDV-infected pigs is safe for people to eat, according to federal officials and livestock economists.

No direct connection has been found between the U.S. outbreak and previously identified outbreaks in Asia and Europe, say scientists and researchers.

The U.S. pork industry had hoped the virus' spread would slow - or at least plateau - as summer approached and the weather grew warm. But Tom Burkgren, executive director of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, said PEDV has proven far more tolerant of heat than a more common malady, transmissible gastroenteritis.

It has been found in baby pigs, adult sows and in other hogs being fattened for slaughter in the United States, say researchers and veterinarians who are investigating the outbreak. No known cases have been reported in Canada or Mexico.

When and how PEDV arrived in the United States remains a mystery. The total number of pig deaths from the outbreak is not known, and the uncertainty is fueling fears among traders, meat processors and farmers about the potential impact on pork supplies later in the year.

The outbreak comes as U.S. hog and wholesale pork prices in the large hog-raising states of Iowa and Minnesota have surged to nearly two-year highs. Supermarkets are racing to fill meat cases for the summer grilling season even as supplies tighten, analysts said. Hogs supplies were already tight after last summer's historic drought drove up feed-grain costs, which prompted a higher-than-normal slaughter rate last summer.

The first U.S. case of PEDV was reported on May 17. But researchers at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, and other diagnostic labs have since discovered that PEDV arrived as early as April 16, according to the American Association of Swine Veterinarians. The labs have begun testing older samples taken from seemingly unrelated cases in an effort to track the virus' first appearance in the U.S.

Investigators with the U.S. Agriculture Department and others are hunting for clues to the widening outbreak and focusing on the nation's livestock transportation system.

PEDV is spread most commonly by pigs ingesting contaminated feces. Investigators are focused on physical transmission, perhaps equipment marred with feces, or a person wearing dirty boots or with dirty nails.

"It could happen at the slaughterhouse, where you have a trailer unloading a truck of pigs that was positive," said Torremorell, who noted that diagnostic researchers at the University of Minnesota and elsewhere have tested hundreds of samples in recent weeks.

"If the person doesn't clean the trailer correctly, and then goes to load up another load of pigs that were negative for PEDV, that person could end up delivering a truck of pigs to an uninfected farm," she said.

www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/mc-hog-virus-in-pa-

[mrsdutt]

Wouldn't it be something if we found out this is a hoax?  Pork prices are low.  Can this be a way to raise prices?  There appears to be a systematic 'event' for all of our natural foods the past four or five years.

Two years ago there was a blight (literally) on cucumber seeds.  90% of the seeds sold had a blight.  Is there no testing available before they leave the factory?

Three years ago strawberries were harmed in the entire country because Florida had little rain.

My favorite.  A rainy winter ruined corn.  Corn is not grown in this country in the winter.  Maybe somewhere else, but who can tell.  (Four years ago.)  If it was somewhere else, why would it effect us?  Last year was corn again because of a draught.  Isn't there irrigation in the Midwest?  California corn and NY corn was doing well.

I really want to know if there are answers to my questions.  Am I being paranoid?  Perhaps I see only a portion of the equation. 

The answer for me -personally - is to grow my own, which I do, as well as my kids' families.  We each grow different items, then share them and preserve them.

[dothedd]

Jun 19, 2013 18:28:02 GMT -5 mrsdutt said:

Wouldn't it be something if we found out this is a hoax?  Pork prices are low.  Can this be a way to raise prices?  There appears to be a systematic 'event' for all of our natural foods the past four or five years.

Two years ago there was a blight (literally) on cucumber seeds.  90% of the seeds sold had a blight.  Is there no testing available before they leave the factory?

Three years ago strawberries were harmed in the entire country because Florida had little rain.

My favorite.  A rainy winter ruined corn.  Corn is not grown in this country in the winter.  Maybe somewhere else, but who can tell.  (Four years ago.)  If it was somewhere else, why would it effect us?  Last year was corn again because of a draught.  Isn't there irrigation in the Midwest?  California corn and NY corn was doing well.

I really want to know if there are answers to my questions.  Am I being paranoid?  Perhaps I see only a portion of the equation. 

The answer for me -personally - is to grow my own, which I do, as well as my kids' families.  We each grow different items, then share them and preserve them.

[dothedd]

Greetings and welcome,

Rivers of blood: the dead pigs rotting in China's water supply
Shanghai's drinking water is under threat after 16,000 diseased pig carcasses are found in tributaries of the Huangpu river…
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/29/dead-pigs-china-water-supply


I love pork, but use a thermometer to make sure it is cooked at the correct temperature to kill the “bad bugs.” Same procedure with all the meat I cook. In today’s world, one cannot be too careful.

It’s always good to share the board with a friendly face.
DTDD

[dothedd]

Deadly piglet virus spreads to nearly 200 U.S. farm sites

 June 25, 2013 by legitgov

Deadly piglet virus spreads to nearly 200 U.S. farm sites 24 Jun 2013 A swine virus deadly to young pigs, and never before seen in North America, has spiked to 199 sites in 13 states - nearly double the number of farms and other locations from earlier this month. Iowa, the largest U.S. hog producer, has the most sites testing positive for Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus: 102 sites, as of June 10. The total number of pig deaths from the outbreak since the first cases were confirmed May 17 is not known.

[dothedd]

Jun 19, 2013 18:28:02 GMT -5 mrsdutt said:

Wouldn't it be something if we found out this is a hoax?  Pork prices are low.  Can this be a way to raise prices?  There appears to be a systematic 'event' for all of our natural foods the past four or five years.

Two years ago there was a blight (literally) on cucumber seeds.  90% of the seeds sold had a blight.  Is there no testing available before they leave the factory?

Three years ago strawberries were harmed in the entire country because Florida had little rain.

My favorite.  A rainy winter ruined corn.  Corn is not grown in this country in the winter.  Maybe somewhere else, but who can tell.  (Four years ago.)  If it was somewhere else, why would it effect us?  Last year was corn again because of a draught.  Isn't there irrigation in the Midwest?  California corn and NY corn was doing well.

I really want to know if there are answers to my questions.  Am I being paranoid?  Perhaps I see only a portion of the equation. 

The answer for me -personally - is to grow my own, which I do, as well as my kids' families.  We each grow different items, then share them and preserve them.

[dothedd]

Mrsdutt,

You stated... Isn't there irrigation in the Midwest?

Best answer I read.

www.marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/drought-even-irrigation-isnt-savior