Pig farmers fear spread of PEDv

Detection of the highly pathogenic Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea virus (PEDv) in Ukraine has heightened fears that the disease could spread and cause a major EU pork production slump in 2015..

Up to recently, only lower-pathogenic strains of PED were found in Europe, and these caused about 60% piglet mortality in infected herds.

Some outbreaks, particularly in Germany and Italy, have caused mortalities up to 70%, according to Zoe Davies, chief executive of the National Pig Association which represents UK pig farmers.