Zoetis Selects Grant Recipients for Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Research

February 18, 2015 — 

Zoetis has awarded research grants to Suidae Health and Production and to Iowa State University to discover solutions that can help improve control of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) in breeding and farrowing herds. [Source: Zoetis]

The two proposals were selected by a cross-functional group of Zoetis colleagues among a group of eight finalists. Both projects are expected to be completed in 2015.

Suidae Health and Production, a swine veterinary practice with three locations across Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska, will use its grant in the amount of $98,000 to study the efficacy of vaccination in boosting the immune response to PEDv in both na�ve sows and previously exposed sows. Results will be compared to na�ve sows that receive a placebo.

The $59,000 grant awarded to Iowa State University extends the partnership between school researchers and Zoetis on multiple projects related to PEDv management. University researchers will measure the effectiveness of the conditionally licensed PED vaccine from Zoetis in helping to reduce PEDv incidence on chronically affected breeding farms by studying the effect of the killed vaccine on immunological parameters in terms of both sow and colostral immunity.

Cases of PEDv have been confirmed in at least 33 states, and about 30% of farms report a reoccurrence within a year of an initial outbreak.1,2 After reaching 12-month lows for new cases of PEDv in mid-October, reports of new cases increased in December as colder weather moved in.