Manitoba Pork says there have been over 40 new on-farm cases of the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) confirmed in southeast Manitoba since the start of May.

General Manager Andrew Dickson, says those numbers can be deceiving however, as they have been moving infected pigs to other locations which are then counted as a new infected site.

He notes its extremely important to keep the disease contained to the southeast region of the province.

"Right now the big issue is just control, it's just getting on top of the sow barns that have been affected. The pigs that flow from those into nurseries, making sure we minimize the number of pigs that are exposed there. Then from the nurseries, making sure that we're not bringing disease into the finisher barns, which is the third stage."

Dickson says if they can get two or three weeks of no new cases, it will be a good start to winning the battle.

The PED virus does not pose a risk to human health.