USDA is looking for a way to better track Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus which has caused millions of dollars of losses by killing baby pigs. The Agency is considering having rules to require reporting of it but it’s not clear yet whether or not they want to make it a reportable disease. South Dakota Pork President Lester Moeller thinks having more and better reporting would be good.
Moeller says part of the problem is that because there is no vaccine for the disease that once a producer gets it, he knows he can’t do anything about it so he may not report it.
Moeller says researchers are working to develop a PED virus vaccine and are getting close but there have been no trials of it yet. He says because the disease can possibly mutate there needs to be a way to make sows immune to prevent it.
