New Coronavirus Detected in Pigs with Diarrhoea in Ohio

US - The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) says that a new coronavirus has been detected in pig faecal samples from four different swine farms in Ohio by Dr Yan Zhang, a virologist from its Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL).
calendar icon 17 February 2014
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The virus cannot spread to humans or other species and poses no risk to food safety, according to ODA.

The farms from which the samples were taken experienced outbreaks of a diarrhoeal disease in sows and piglets in January and early February 2014. The clinical signs of the disease were similar to that of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) and transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE), which are both caused by coronaviruses.

Electronmicropy of faecal samples from the four farms showed the presence of coronavirus-like viral articles. In one of the four farms, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for TGE viruses and PED viruses currently circulating in the US were negative but all 10 samples were positive for a new virus.

PED and the new virus were detected in faecal samples from the other three farms.

Sequence analysis of the new coronavirus shows that it is a deltacoronavirus, distinct from PED and TGE viruses. The new virus has been designated as Swine DeltaCoronavirus (SDCV).

This virus is closely related to a coronavirus detected in Hong Kong in 2012.

The virus cannot spread to humans or other species and poses no risk to food safety.

Further study is needed to confirm whether or not this virus is the cause of diarrheal disease in affected pigs.

The ADDL offers PCR tests that can detect all three of these coronaviruses (PED, TGE and SDCV).

For testing information, please contact the ADDL at 614?728?6220 or visit ADDL’s web site, www.ohioagriculture.gov/addl/.

Further Reading

Find out more information on PED by clicking here.

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