Kansas State University researchers are jumping full force into studies of the deadly Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus(PEDv), which is said to have a 100 percent mortality rate in piglets less than 7 days old, and is estimated to have killed 8 million pigs in 2014.

While European farmers have been dealing with PEDv since the 1970s, the disease first exploded into U.S. herds in 2013. PEDv causes acute diarrhea and dehydration in pigs of all ages. The costly disease poses an economic threat to the U.S. swine industry, which is estimated to produce $39 billion of gross national product annually, but it does not pose a risk to other animal species or the human food supply.

The studies involve researchers from both Kansas State and Iowa State University; many are experts of swine nutrition, grain and feed science, and veterinary medicine, and are studying the presence of the virus in animal feed with hopes to uncover and implement useful biosecurity measures that may help save pigs’ lives.

“We have established that feed and feed ingredients may act as a vehicle to transfer the virus,” said Jason Woodworth, a research associate professor of animal sciences and industry. “This is extremely important because feed and ingredients are not normally considered a vector in transmitting diseases.”

The Cargill Feed Safety Research Center at Kansas State University’s O.H. Kruse Feed Technology Innovation Center is housing the food processing portions of the studies. By conducting this research in a secure university facility, researchers will be able to determine the impact contamination would have on a commercial mill without compromising any existing ones.

“This is the only known bio-safety level 2 facility in the world that can conduct this scale of research utilizing feed processing equipment that is similar to that used in commercial mills,” Woodworth said.

Woodworth said that most of this research is funded by the National Pork Board, with support from other industry partners.