Suid herpesvirus 1 (SuHV1, syn. Aujeszky's disease virus [ADV] or pseudorabies virus [PrV]), which belongs to the family Herpesviridae, subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae, genus Varicellovirus is the causative agent of Aujeszky's disease (AD, pseudorabies), a notifiable disease, that causes substantial economic losses to the swine industry in countries, where AD is present.

T. Müller of the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute in Germany and colleagues there and at the University of Illinois in the US, and the Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute in Eberswalde have recently published their review in the journal, Archives of Virology.

The researchers continue that members of the family Suidae (true pigs) are the only natural hosts for PrV, although the virus can infect numerous other mammals including ruminants, carnivores and rodents.

Despite the tremendous progress that has been made in controlling and eliminating PrV in domestic pigs, there is mounting evidence that PrV infections are more widespread in wild swine across the world than originally thought, they say.

Unfortunately, our understanding of the extent of PrV infections in these wild populations and of the threat to domestic swine is still fragmentary. This review aims at giving a global perspective on PrV infections in wild swine by scrutinising the current state of knowledge concerning:

• the global occurrence of PrV infections in free-living populations of wild swine, e.g. wild boar and feral swine
• the molecular characterisation of wild swine PrV
• infection characteristics of PrV in populations of wild swine
• the risk of spillover infections to domestic pigs, and
• potential risk-mitigating measures, focusing on further research needs.

Reference

Müller T.,, E.C. Hahn, F. Tottewitz, M. Kramer, B.G. Klupp, T.C. Mettenleiter and C. Freuling. 2011. Pseudorabies virus in wild swine: a global perspective. Archives of Virology, 156 (10):1691-1705. DOI: 10.1007/s00705-011-1080-2

Further Reading

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You can view the full report (fee payable) by clicking here.

Further Reading

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Find out more information on Aujeszky's disease by clicking here.