PED Elimination Efforts in Manitoba Attracting International Interest

Sep 08, 2025

The Director of Swine Health with Manitoba Pork says the success of efforts to control Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea in Manitoba is drawing international attention.Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea, a viral gastrointestinal infection that affects all types of pigs with the most devastating impact on newly born piglets, was first introduced into the United States in 2013 and in Canada, specifically in Manitoba, in 2014.Jenelle Hamblin, the Director of Swine Health with Manitoba Pork, says, since the introduction of Manitoba's PED elimination plan in the spring of 2023, numbers of cases have declined.

Quote-Jenelle Hamblin-Manitoba Pork:

We have seen three large scale outbreaks of PED in Manitoba but, as I mentioned, our first cases were back in 2014.We did see cases through 14, 15 and 16 however they were numbers less than 10, total across those three years.In 2017 is when we saw our largest outbreak to date at that point, 80 cases overall.Year over year we did see ups and downs, a roller coaster as I like to call it, through 2018 and then another large outbreak in 2019 with 82 cases, a quieter year in 2020.

Of course, the pandemic was at play there and there wasn't a lot of people moving at that point.You don't move people; you don't move disease.Then in 21, 22, that was our largest outbreak of PED that we've seen to date totalling over 120 cases in that time frame.Since then, I'm happy to report that PED cases have been on the decline.

2023, 2024 and 2025 we've been back to single digit numbers of PED since that large outbreak in 2022 when throughout 22-23 is when we got to work in putting our heads together and building how we're going to move forward with PED from that large scale outbreak.

Hamblin says we have seen a quieter year on the health front generally in Manitoba and veterinarians have been reporting regular or lower incidences of other diseases.As well, she says, there has been a lot of outreach from other jurisdictions on what's being done in Manitoba related to PED, particularly from the United States.

Source : Farmscape.ca

Video: ASF Control Lessons - Dr. Mary-Louise Penrith

In this episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, Dr. Mary-Louise Penrith, Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria, shares what decades of work have revealed about ASF control. She explains why vaccine development remains difficult, how human activity and food waste drive disease spread, why resistant pig populations are an important research area, and how strict biosecurity with the right disinfectants can help to stop transmission. Listen now on all major platforms!

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Meet the guest: Dr. Mary-Louise Penrith / mary-louise-penrith-2b12bb42 is an Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. A veterinarian and internationally recognized researcher, she has dedicated decades to African swine fever epidemiology, control, and pig health, supporting FAO and WOAH initiatives while advancing research and education. Listen to Dr. Mary-Louise Penrith on the Swine Health Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.