On Mar. 18, a pig in Fukuoka Prefecture was confirmed as having contracted Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED), a viral infection with a high probability of killing piglets. PED has now been confirmed in every prefecture in Kyushu except Nagasaki. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, a PED outbreak in Okinawa last October marked the first time the disease has been reported in Japan in seven years. By December, cases had been reported in Kagoshima, and were quickly followed by reports from Miyazaki, Kumamoto, Saga and Oita. Across the six prefectures reporting PED, 179 farms have seen 161,400 pigs become infected, of which 35,552 have already died. Approximately 60% of the outbreaks have been self-contained, with those farms reporting no new cases of PED. Meanwhile, the virus continues to spread to other farms, so prefectural governments are working to stem its spread by beefing up disinfection measures. An official from Fukuoka Prefecture urged a level-headed response, “Humans cannot contract PED. We are asking farms not to ship infected pigs, but there is no harm in eating a pig that has recovered from the infection.” Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 3/19
