Following notification of an unusual mortality, mainly in piglets, in the central-western part of the country, with clinical evidence suggestive of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, the official Veterinary Services in coordination with farmers began a diagnosis of the situation of this disease that included epidemiological sampling in farrow-to-finish farms, fattening farms, breeding farms, backyard farms and slaughterhouses with clinical evidence.

During the epidemiological investigation, 2,309 samples were tested with RRT-PCR in 19 federal entities between August 2013 and May 2014.

Out of the total number of samples, only 30 per cent were positive for porcine epidemic diarrhea and 70 per cent were negative, which suggests that there may be some other etiological agent involved in this event, being a multicausal process.

It should be noted that, to date, it has not been possible to isolate the virus and that the States where positive cases were identified by RRT-PCR are: Aguascalientes, Baja California, Colima, Federal District, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Jalisco, State of Mexico, Michoacán, Morelos, Nuevo León, Puebla, Querétaro, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tlaxcala and Veracruz. Samples from the States of Yucatán and of Oaxaca were negative for the disease.

The outbreaks are thought to be due to the legal movement of animals.