Shiloh
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Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsa...4-000-piglets-in-china-where-did-it-come-from
A Novel Virus Killed 24,000 Piglets In China. Where Did It Come From?
April 4, 20181:54 PM ET
Melody Schreiber
When the newborn piglets first started getting sick in October 2016, farmers in China's Guangdong province suspected porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) ? a disease they'd seen in the pigs before. And, at first, the tests did come back positive for PEDV. But then something strange happened. By January 2017, the pigs stopped testing positive for that virus ? but kept getting sick.
Researchers began looking for another cause of the piglets' illness. The four farms where the pigs were dying were located about 60 miles from Foshan ? the place where severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), first emerged back in 2002. Before it was halted in 2004, SARS spread to 33 countries and sickened more than 8,000 people, killing 774.
Once researchers got this new virus under the microscope, they confirmed that it was a virus in the same family as both PEDV and SARS ? but it wasn't one they'd seen before. It was a brand-new disease. They named it SADS, or swine acute diarrhea syndrome. It had infected the piglets during an outbreak of PEDV, and then it rapidly took over; by May 2017, more than 24,000 piglets had died.
Researchers tested the workers who had come in close contact with the infected pigs and were relieved to discover the virus was not transmissible to humans ? this time...
A Novel Virus Killed 24,000 Piglets In China. Where Did It Come From?
April 4, 20181:54 PM ET
Melody Schreiber
When the newborn piglets first started getting sick in October 2016, farmers in China's Guangdong province suspected porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) ? a disease they'd seen in the pigs before. And, at first, the tests did come back positive for PEDV. But then something strange happened. By January 2017, the pigs stopped testing positive for that virus ? but kept getting sick.
Researchers began looking for another cause of the piglets' illness. The four farms where the pigs were dying were located about 60 miles from Foshan ? the place where severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), first emerged back in 2002. Before it was halted in 2004, SARS spread to 33 countries and sickened more than 8,000 people, killing 774.
Once researchers got this new virus under the microscope, they confirmed that it was a virus in the same family as both PEDV and SARS ? but it wasn't one they'd seen before. It was a brand-new disease. They named it SADS, or swine acute diarrhea syndrome. It had infected the piglets during an outbreak of PEDV, and then it rapidly took over; by May 2017, more than 24,000 piglets had died.
Researchers tested the workers who had come in close contact with the infected pigs and were relieved to discover the virus was not transmissible to humans ? this time...