The virus that killed about 10 percent of the hog population in the U.S. from 2013 to 2014 could have entered the country through contaminated reusable plastic bags called flexible intermediate bulk containers (FIBCs), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Reuters reported.
The virus' DNA was also remarkably 99.5 percent similar to a virus found in the Anhui Province in China, although researchers did not say or confirm that the pig virus came from China.
The Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) virus was first spotted in Ohio in April 2013. It spread to other states and killed more than 8 million piglets from 2013 to 2014, delivering a damaging blow to the swine industry and causing the prices of pork to rise to record highs. Iowa, North Carolina, Minnesota and Illinois were the hardest hit states. Agriculture economists estimated the cost of the piglet deaths at $1.8 billion, according to Reuters.
The USDA, through the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), tracked the origin of the virus last summer and published its findings in a report that was released Wednesday. The investigators were not able to identify a definite point of origin, but they looked into several possible scenarios that could have allowed the virus entry into the country.
"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," the researchers wrote in the report.
However, the investigation remained inconclusive regarding the source of the virus, leaving swine industry players uncomfortable about the situation.
"NPPC remains concerned about this gap in our system for protecting animal health," Dave Warner, spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council, told the Associated Press.
The researchers recommended further study to determine effective disinfection methods, but they also said the solution to the problem "could be as simple as not reusing the bags or yet to be determined disinfection procedures such as dry heat prior to reusing the containers."
