A Novel Virus Killed 24,000 Piglets In China. Where Did It Come From?
At first, tests were positive for porcine epidemic diarrhea virus. Then something strange happened. The pigs stopped testing positive for that virus — but kept getting sick.
When the newborn piglets first started getting sick in October 2016, farmers in China's Guangdong province suspected porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) — a disease they'd seen in the pigs before. And, at first, the tests did come back positive for PEDV. But then something strange happened. By January 2017, the pigs stopped testing positive for that virus — but kept getting sick.
Researchers began looking for another cause of the piglets' illness. The four farms where the pigs were dying were located about 60 miles from Foshan — the place where severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), first emerged back in 2002. Before it was
