Pork Prices Rise as Researches Work to Find Cure for PED Virus

  • By: Karen Skubik
  • May 19, 2014
  • 387
                        
The Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) has now killed over 7 million pigs in the United States representing about a 10% reduction in the population in just one year. The virus which The Center for Disease Control states was first reported in the United Kingdom in 1971 and identified in the Ohio pig population in June of 2013, has researchers in the Food Animal Health Research Program at the OARDC/OSU working hard to isolate it and understand how the virus causes disease in piglets. The team of Qiuhong Wang, Linda Saif, Tomoichiro Oka, and Kwonil Jung are focused on developing diagnostics and a vaccine and then to test the vaccine's effectiveness in pigs experimentally. According to Tony Forshey, chief of animal health for the Ohio Department of Agriculture, “the virus acts like a lawn mower” on the villi in a pig’s intestines. These tiny projections in the intestines aid in digestion and without them, the piglets cannot absorb nutrients from food or water. This causes close to 100% mortality in pigs under 21 days old due to diarrhea and in turn dehydration. Numerous approaches to develop vaccines are underway, but Dr Wang said, “Because PEDV causes high mortality rate in suckling pigs, vaccine development should target pregnant sows. Immunized sows will produce protective antibodies in colostrum and milk to protect suckling pigs from PEDV.” Dr. Saif explained the typical procedure and timeline for developing a vaccine: The virus is grown in cell culture to high virus levels and then either chemically killed so it is not infectious or it is made less deadly by growing it for 80 – 100 passages in cell culture to attenuate it, meaning to cripple its ability to produce disease. For a federally licensed vaccine, Saif said, “this could take 2-3 years because of stringent regulations in testing the vaccine safety and effectiveness. However for emergency situations, a conditional license might be granted faster for such a vaccine, maybe within 1-2 years.” Using another vaccination approach, an autogenous vaccine can be developed from the virus strain of the herd of origin, but then it can only be used in the same local herd. Saif said, “these types of vaccines might be available in a year”. In the meanwhile, the highly contagious disease has now spread through 30 states according to the weekly update from the National Animal Health Laboratory Network and consumers are feeling the effect. Dave Savage, meat supervisor for Buehler’s Fresh Foods, has “absolutely” seen the effect of PEDV on meat prices. It’s simple supply and demand. Since supply is down,“Retail prices are up 20% over our prior year”, said Savage who also noted, “The Department of Agriculture is expecting even more of a production loss in 2015.” This will possibly cause an additional 20% increase in pork prices. Saif and Wang both stressed that to date, pig is the only host for PEDV, so there is no risk to humans. However, Saif added, “We need to be very vigilant to monitor for new strains of coronavirus like is done routinely to monitor animals and humans for new strains of influenza virus.”


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