Last week the first case of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea in Canada was confirmed in Middlesex County, Ontario and yesterday a second case was confirmed in the Chatham-Kent region.

Dr Chris Byra, the manager of the Canadian Swine Health Intelligence Network, says, while it seems like there is a sense that we can't control the break, there are farms in the U.S. that have stayed negative even in areas where many farms around them are positive.

Dr Chris Byra-Canadian Swine Health Intelligence Network

It still moves with manure, it still has to be transported onto your yard and into your barn so there are lots of opportunities to control this disease and not let it into your barn.

It is very similar to a another corona virus called TGE and TGE virus, we've had considerable success in controlling if we very carefully implement our biosecurity measures so I think that people shouldn't be discouraged at this point thinking that it's impossible to stop this organism.

They need to focus on being sure that any vehicles coming on their property, particularly pig transport vehicles, have been properly cleaned and disinfected so they should ask the important questions to understand whether or not that truck is contaminated including the inside but also the undercarriage and wheel wells and tires so that's probably number one.

Number two is that they really have focus on the idea that, even if it gets into their yard, the final barrier is their barn door and the protocols that we've been using and recommending to ensure that nothing moves into the barn, boot changes, coverall changes, gloves and be sure that we have no contamination going from outside to inside.

Dr Byra says the virus survives best in cold weather so these are the most critical months but on the other side it's easily killed by almost any disinfectant.