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Pig Journal Volume: 61
Publication date: June 2008

Research Papers

PORCINE REPRODUCTIVE AND RESPIRATORY SYNDROME VIRUS: DIVERSITY OF RECENT BRITISH ISOLATES
J.-P. FROSSARD, D.G. WESTCOTT, B. NAIDU, T. W. DREW, S. WILLIAMSON and N. G.A. WOODGER

Abstract
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) remains a significant problem for British pig producers, contributing to the porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC), neonatal piglet mortality, infertility and occasional abortion storms. The aetiological agent, an RNA virus of the arterivirus family, has been shown to be quite diverse in other countries, but no current data regarding the virus population has been available in Britain since the early 1990s.

In the present study, genetic sequence analysis and antigenic profiling of over 100 new virus isolates (2003 to 2007) revealed that the diversity of British isolates is now far greater than during the early 1990s. Some isolates are very similar to early isolates, but a wide range of diverse viruses is now also circulating. The sequence information also indicated putative epidemiological links amongst disease outbreaks, mainly through pig movements and personnel.

Monoclonal antibody profiling also revealed increasing antigenic diversity, raising the possibility that prior exposure may not be protective. This was reinforced on several occasions by the finding of multiple strains on a farm at one time and, in one case, two different strains in one sow.

The authors' finding of increasing diversity of PRRS viruses mirrors that found in other countries and has implications for the diagnostic and prophylactic methods currently being used.

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