Possible outbreaks of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea, a viral disease that causes severe watery diarrhea in pigs resulting in high morbidity in sows and piglets and frequent mortality in piglets due to dehydration, has been reported in several US states including Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado and Indiana.

Dr Dan Hurnik, the chair of the Canadian Swine Health Board's Long Term Disease Risk Management Committee and a member of the faculty of the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island, says the situation was just reported Friday so information is being gathered now.

Dr Dan Hurnik-Canadian Swine Health Board

My understanding is it's multiple herds affected not just one and there's an investigation going on and there's attempts to limit spread.

The problem with the epidemic diarrhea virus is that it's never been seen before in North America, so neither in Canada nor the United States which means herds will have no immunity so when it enters those herds it will cause significant disruption and damage.

We've never had a confirmed case in Canada of this disease so all our herds would be susceptible.
What the Swine Health Board and the Canadian industry and the Canadian veterinarians are looking at doing is making sure that we maintain our biosecurity program to prevent the entry of this virus into Canada.

In particular the things we need to be careful of is the health status of pigs coming to Canada and ensure that sanitation of trucks and vehicles that are moving from infected areas into Canada that they're cleaned effectively and that producers are careful about not transmitting diseases.

Dr Hurnik says, by maintaining biosecurity procedures outlined in the Canadian Swine Health Board's National Biosecurity Standard, producers will be able to reduce their risk of exposure.