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Geneticists seem to have bred pigs that have immunity to a common animal viral disease. They declared on Tuesday that they have utilized gene editing technology, which many feel would save the farming industry millions, according to Yahoo! News.

Researchers from Genus, a company that makes and sells pig and bull semen to farmers, has created these super pigs, in association with the University of Missouri and Kansas State University.

The Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus, which annually makes the farming industry lose $660 million, stops pigs from producing offspring, makes them thinner and even kills them off prematurely, according to Phys.

With the help of new gene editing technology, the group managed to breed pigs that prevented the creation of a particular protein, enabling the disease to spread.

"Once inside the pigs, PRRS needs some help to spread; it gets that help from a protein called CD163," said Randall Prather, professor of animal sciences at University of Missouri. "We were able to breed a litter of pigs that do not produce this protein, and as a result, the virus doesn't spread."

"When we exposed the pigs to PRRS, they did not get sick and continued to gain weight normally," he added.

The study was published by the Nature Publishing Group.