FRANKFORT, Ky. — Last winter Kentucky hog producers found themselves battling porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), a virus that according to the American Assoc. of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) can cause severe diarrhea, vomiting, high morbidity and variable mortality, sometimes as high as 100 percent in young pigs.

PED, one of many swine enteric coronavirus diseases (SECD), is something producers have had to combat without a vaccine available to prevent it. Attention turned toward Kentucky in 2014 when one producer was recorded secretly by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) conducting a practice known as “feedback,” after the disease was discovered within his herd.

Feedback is an old practice in which fecal matter or ground intestines from diseased piglets that have succumbed to the disease are fed back to other pigs in the herd to help build up a natural immunity.

While HSUS denounced the act, hog producers and others in the swine industry, including veterinarians, came forward and said feedback was the best and one of the only methods available in which producers could ward off the disease and provide their animals some type of immunity against PED.

Dr. Richard Coffey, the current director of the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Research and Education Center in Princeton and longtime swine extension specialist, said while vaccines for the disease are now making their way to the market, he’s not sure of their efficacy.

“There are a few vaccines out there, but it probably still remains to be seen how effective they will be,” he said. “From some of the preliminary information I’ve seen and a few conversations I’ve had with folks who have used the vaccine or been involved with the development, it seems like if it’s someone who has already broken with PEDv and gotten over it, the vaccine may be helpful in preventing it from breaking again.”

But for those who have not experienced it, Coffey said it is uncertain how effective these new treatments may be to a herd that has not built up some type immunity to the disease. “There is still a lot we don’t know about the vaccine side and I’m not sure we are quite there with a real effective vaccine yet.”

Coffey, who was recently named chair of the UK Department of Animal and Food Sciences, said the instances of PED have slowed over the summer, which is typical of coronaviruses. The disease usually declines with warmer temperatures.

But those in the hog industry are holding their breath as cooler temperatures return and housing facilities are tightened with less ventilation. “We’re still a little concerned what might happen this fall and winter, but at least for right now the number of cases has declined,” said Coffey.

Earlier this year USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a federal order requiring the reporting of swine enteric coronavirus diseases, including PED.

According to the USDA, there are two basic requirements of the order: producers, veterinarians and diagnostic laboratories are required to report all cases of novel SECD to USDA or state animal health officials; and herds/premises confirmed to be affected with these viruses must work with a veterinarian – either their herd veterinarian, USDA or state animal health officials – to develop and implement a reasonable herd/premises management plan to address the detected virus and prevent its spread.

The American Assoc. of Swine Veterinarians reports there are 31 states with at least one confirmed case of PED each.

Coffey said in outbreaks, the best option to get the disease under control is still the feedback method, so herds can recover from it as quickly as possible and limit the amount of time affected pigs will be shedding the virus and causing mortality in young pigs.

“That is still, by far, the most effective way in the absence of the development of a really good vaccine,” he explained.

Coffey is hopeful, but a little skeptical, that pharmaceutical companies can come up with an effective vaccine soon. “It’s very hard to come up with a vaccine that works at the gut-level as good as (we) would really like,” he said.