Manitoba Pork Assists In Alberta PED Investigation

It was revealed last week that the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) was discovered for the first time in Alberta.

The first Canadian PED case was confirmed in Ontario back in 2014, and has since been reported in Manitoba, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and now Alberta.

Jenelle Hamblin is the manager of Swine Health Programs with Manitoba Pork.

"I think it came as a bit of a surprise to everyone," she said. "Obviously you don't want to hear that type of news anywhere in the country. So in a province that hasn't seen it before, it hits a little bit harder I would say."

Hamblin notes Manitoba Pork has been working closely with officials in Alberta to assist in managing the situation.

"They quickly said it themselves that the experiences that we had here in Manitoba were extremely helpful from initially identifying the virus...It was very quickly identified and tested for [PEDv], which is really great in terms of quick containment of the virus."

Hamblin gave an update on PED in Manitoba.

"Thankfully nothing new in 2019, however we did see a few cases pop up in the month of December in 2018 of which the investigation of those premises is continuing and underway," she explained. "Looking at how those potentially could have become infected in December and sadly we haven't been able to pinpoint anything very, very definitively at this point."