Last week, at the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference, Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart announced $3.8M in funding to support livestock-related research projects. One of the projects will investigate genetic resistance to Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED).
PED is a coronavirus, a subset of RNA viruses (http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=22789). It causes diarrhea and vomiting in swine, with up to 100% mortality in nursing piglets. Although highly virulent in swine populations, the virus is not zoonotic, and does not pose a risk to human health or the health of other animals.