A livestock disease that the United States spent two decades and significant public resources eradicating has returned. The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed on April 30, 2026 that pseudorabies virus (PRV) had been detected in a small commercial swine facility in Iowa — traced to five boars that originated from an outdoor farm in Texas, where the same disease was also confirmed. This marks the first known case of pseudorabies in U.S. commercial pigs since 2004, when a coordinated state-federal-industry program declared the disease eliminated from the commercial swine industry.
Both the Iowa and Texas operations have been depopulated under disease control protocols. A two-mile quarantine zone around the Iowa facility is undergoing its final round of testing scheduled between June 12 and July 11, 2026 — a window that encompasses the coming days and the next month. The outcome of that testing will determine whether the outbreak has been contained to the two confirmed premises or has silently spread into the broader swine population.
