Porcine Endemic Diarrhea Disease - Essay Example

"Porcine Endemic Diarrhea Disease" is an excellent example of a paper on the virus. Porcine endemic diarrhea virus is a porcine viral endemic disease caused by a coronavirus. The virus infects the luminal cells of a pig’s small intestines and results in endemic diarrhea, a condition characterized by severe dehydration secondary to severe diarrhea. This viral infection is identical to transmissible endemic gastroenteritis (Stevenson et al. p. 1). PEDV is only zoonotic, meaning it is restricted to animals (pigs in this case) only, therefore, it presents no risk to humans and other animals. It has no risks in food security too.

Clinical signs
Clinical signs of PEDV are often age-specific with the younger animals showing more severe symptoms. In pigs that are seven days old and younger and are suckling, there is yellow profuse and watery diarrhea. Often than not, the diarrhea is accompanied by loss of appetite, emesis, dehydration and eventually death (Sun et al.p. 161). Generally, entire litters are affected with a mortality rate of 50-100%. Older animals, (boars, soars, finisher, grower, nursery) upon infection may refuse to feed for about four days, pass loose stool and vomit. However, the mortality rate is considerably lower in weaned pigs at a 1-3% rate but the whole heard may show clinical signs following an exposure.

Diagnosis
Diagnosis of PEDV requires samples to be summited to diagnostic labs where tests are conducted for confirmatory diagnosis. Following diarrhea onset, the following samples are collected:

For PCR test:
At least 10 ml of feces should be collected in a leak-proof sample container. A biopsy of fresh colon, ileum, and jejunum each about ten inches and placed separately on leak-proof containers. These samples should be transported frozen on gel packs.
For the immunohistochemistry test:
Formalin-fixed biopsies of colon, ileum, and jejunum should be placed in leak-proof sample containers with the mucosa layer exposed to the fixative each measuring approximately 1 inch

Transmission
The coronavirus is transmitted via the fecal-oral route. Pigs with the virus shed tremendous amounts of the virus for seven to ten days. Direct infection occurs through direct contact while indirect infection occurs following exposure to infected clothing or boots, manure, farm equipment, and supplies, or vehicles used for transportation of pigs. The virus is susceptible to common disinfectants such as Environ, bleach, Vikron S and dying (Wang, Byrum, and Zhang p. 2). The virus remains viable for about a month in a cool and damp environment.

Incubation period
The incubation period of PEDV, which is the time between exposure and exhibition of clinical signs, is typically 12-24 hours. When the porcine is infected, they will start to show the above-stated clinical signs within 12-24 hours.

Shedding
Pigs will remain infective to others for up to three to four weeks upon which they can transmit the infection to uninfected animals.

Immunity
There is no identified cross-protection between porcine endemic diarrheal virus with transmissible gastroenteritis even though both the infections are caused by a coronavirus (Wang, Byrum, and Zhang, p. 2). Maternal protection (passive like immunity) can be effectively passed to newborns of previously exposed sows through colostrum. However, there is no long-lasting protection that has been discovered, and vaccine studies are under study.

Treatment
Treatment of PEDV is more of supportive therapy through ensuring adequate hydration of the infected pigs (Stevenson et al. p. 2). Provide daft-free, clean, and dry environment with good access to quality drinking water and electrolytes may have benefits to the dehydrated animals

Prevention
The initial step is trying at best to limit cross-infection with feces of suspected pigs. Clearly communicate and define a separation line marking the segregation between your firm, transport vehicles, and both the inside and outside production site. It is also expedient to contact a veterinarian immediately and at the same time, reinforce biosecurity procedures (Stevenson et al. p. 2). The transport vehicles should be decontaminated with disinfectants that have been shown to inactivate the PEDV effectively. Replacement stock for bleeding should be picked from a negative heard.

Consumer price effects
This endemic virus significantly reduces the number of hogs slaughters. Reduced hog slaughters leads to increased demand for pork. Often, when demand is high, prices will typically go high too, so the virus endemic leads to a boost in hog prices leading to hiking of pork prices.