Status report on porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in the United States

Kehrli, Marcus E.; Stasko, Judith; Lager, Kelly M.

Scientists at the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Iowa State University (ISU), first detected a transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) viruslike disease in late April of 2013. Initial diagnostic tests were focused on detecting TGE virus and, thus, failed to identify PEDV. However, ISU scientists suspected a TGE-like virus to be involved and submitted fecal samples to the electron microscopy facility at the USDA-ARS National Animal Disease Center where a coronavirus was identified on 10 May 2013. Within the next week, ISU scientists had confirmed a coronavirus with a pan-coronavirus PCR test and notified scientists at the USDA-APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL). Working together, ISU and NVSL scientists independently confirmed the virus as PEDV, a member of the porcine coronavirus family that includes TGE virus and porcine respiratory coronavirus in the US. Sequencing the viral genome found it to be > 99% identical to PEDV strains in Asia, where PEDV continues to cause ongoing disease challenges for pork producers (Huang et al., 2013) . Currently, there is no effective treatment for the virus, other than supportive care to combat dehydration, and there are no effective approved vaccines to prevent PEDV-caused disease.