Bacon and pork chop prices are set to rise as much as 25 percent this summer as a deadly virus sweeps through the hog herd, killing as many as one in 10 piglets in Nebraska, Iowa and other states.
The disease is called PEDV, or porcine epidemic diarrhea virus. It was new in the United States last year, survived the winter, and is now killing tens of thousands of pigs, mostly the very young. There is no vaccine and no cure for the virus; it doesn't affect people.
“It came out of nowhere and it has been devastating,” said Dennis Hughes, state veterinarian for the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. “It is 100 percent fatal to animals up to three weeks of age, so if it hits your hog farm, it is going to be pretty ugly.”
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