Illinois pork farmers are reporting cases of a new virus that killing off piglets across the country. Stephanie Kraus, manager of the Bond County Farm Bureau told us more about the virus.
“The virus is called PEDV, which stands for Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus and basically this virus causes diarrhea, severe nausea, and dehydration in pigs,” Kraus said. “It can actually kill pigs and it’s wiped out quite a few across the United States already. It’s been spreading from state to state and it’s actually been reported in 30 different states now, so it’s spreading pretty quickly. I don’t know if there’s been any locally or not, but there has been some reported in Illinois.”
Kraus said the virus could be very damaging to local farmers.
“It can have a pretty big effect on their livelihood because they’re making an investment with these pigs, because they’re purchasing them and trying to raise them. If they’re losing their pigs to this virus, then obviously there’s going to be no opportunity for them to make any kind of profit off of this.”
While the virus is dangerous for pigs, it cannot be transferred to people who eat pork.
