New Vaccines May Have Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Under Control
The disease is exactly what it sounds like: a highly contagious disease that causes severe diarrhea in pigs. While adult pigs usually survive the disease, piglets do not. Until now, there were no treatments or vaccines for the disease, and farmers’ best hope was that sows either wouldn’t be exposed to the virus, or would already be immune before having a litter.
The senseless death of millions of piglets is causing an unanticipated problem: millions of piglet corpses. Piglets normally grow up to be pigs who are eaten, after all, so pig burials aren’t a normal occurrence. Environmentalists are concerned that the unprecedented numbers of pig burials could contaminate groundwater as the animals decompose.
Pigs that have had the virus pose no known risk to the pork-eating public: the disease is not communicable to humans.
Farmers Gain Weapon Against Devastating Pig Virus [New York Times]
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