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 The report, released on Wednesday and dated Sept. 24, said the
agency does not have definitive proof of how Porcine Epidemic
Diarrhea virus (PEDv) initially arrived in the United States. The
virus was first identified in the country in the spring of 2013.
The most likely scenario was that the virus came from the use of
Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers - also known as FIBCs or "tote
bags", according to the report by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS).
APHIS looked at 17 possible scenarios, including whether the virus
had been accidentally or intentionally brought into the country.
Some of these 17 scenarios, according to the report, now are
considered to be plausible explanations.
"The most probable route of dissemination is in the context of
recycled food or feed products through distribution companies who
generally service a large network of feed mill customers across the
Midwest and beyond," according to the report.
The outbreak of PEDv killed roughly 10 percent of the U.S. hog
population between 2013 and 2014. It pushed U.S. pork prices to
historic highs and its economic cost to the United States could be
as much as $1.8 billion, according to some agriculture economists.
Though the number of new PEDv cases has slowed since its peak in
2014, fears remain that the virus may return. Earlier this year,
U.S. researchers identified a new strain, a sign the virus will keep
mutating.
CONTAMINATED BAGS
Before the outbreak, there were no federal regulations over the
re-use of FIBC bags for importing products, according to the report.
Such bags were sold online and frequently used by animal feed mills
without being cleaned or disinfected.
The bags could have been contaminated in an "origin country's
transport trucks, by exposure to irrigation or flood waters
containing organic fertilizer like pig manure," the report said.
Other possibilities include wood shavings, grains, fertilizer,
compost, animal parts, or bulk rendered products.
Where such contamination may have originated is not known.
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It is also not known what could have been inside contaminated bags.
The possibilities include vitamin and mineral premixes, livestock
vaccines or antibiotics approved for animal feed -- the majority of
which are either produced in China, or use ingredients or reagents
from China, the report said.
"Some products such as antibiotics are diluted in China with rice
hulls. One consultant had seen rice hulls being dried on a roadside
where they are likely driven over by contaminated pig trucks,"
according to the report.
Veterinary researchers tracking the outbreak found in 2013 that
there was some indication the PEDv strain seen in the U.S. was 99.5
percent similar in genetic make-up to one identified in the Anhui
Province of China.
The big bags are used to haul rice hulls, livestock medication and
other feedstuff from small manufacturing plants to large mixing
facilities in Asia, according to the report.
Early in the outbreak, federal and state investigators -- as well as
an early case-control study -- thought the source of the outbreak
could be linked to feed or feed delivery systems. However,
investigators could find no common feed manufacturers, products, or
ingredients in the initially infected herds.
(Reporting By P.J. Huffstutter and Danny Na in Chicago. Editing by
Jo Winterbottom and Diane Craft)
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