The second Swinostics review meeting was remotely held!!
It was a very fruitful discussion!
Thank you to the European Commission and the Expert reviewers for their support and advice!
#H2020 #swinostics#EU #research ... See MoreSee Less
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Inside the Swine Virus: African swine fever (ASF)
The first African swine fever (ASF) case in Poland has been reported in February 2014. Up to date the ASF virus (ASFV) spread over at almost half of territory of Poland. During the epidemic stage of infection, it is crucial to implement effective surveillance by sampling strategy and examination of wild boars through the passive and active surveillance. The data indicate continuous growth of ASFV presence in wild boar population. Most of ASF infected animals were located in part II and III (accordingly to the 2014/709 EU Commission Decision). The percentage of ASF positive wild boars in part II and III within the group of found dead animals increased considerably reaching 73 percent in 2018. In terms of results obtained from active surveillance (hunted animals), the slow increase of ASF positive animals until 2017 (2%), and small decrease of this number since 2019 (0.8%) has been observed. However, the decrease was connected with intensification of hunting actions (in 2017 in total 6016 wild boars were hunted and in 2019 over 43300 wild boars were hunted in Part II and III). In 2014, thirty ASF cases in wild boar where reported, while in 2015, 53 cases, in 2016 – 80 cases, in 2017 – 741 cases, in 2018 – 2443 cases, and in 2019 – 2477 cases. An important fact about the ASF spread in wild boar population is the confirmation of antibody presence specific to ASFV (without the DNA of ASFV presence) in 139 wild boars in 2019 (0.73% of all analysed boars). Until the end of April 2020 in total 2400 ASF cases have been identified.
In 2014 two ASF outbreaks in pigs farm (backyard farms) were reported. In 2015 it was only one outbreak in pigs, while in 2016 twenty new outbreaks were notified. In 2017 – 81 outbreaks were found, while in 2018 – 109 outbreaks in pigs were notified. In the last year lower number of ASF outbreaks were reported reaching 48 outbreaks. However, till 2017 most outbreaks were related to backyard farms. In 2019 44 percent of ASF outbreaks have been notified in large farms (above 100 pigs per unit). Unfortunately, in 2020 two outbreaks in domestic pigs have been detected. The outbreaks have been found in large commercial farms counting over 23 thousand and 10 thousand of pigs respectively. ... See MoreSee Less
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SWINOSTICS getting ready for its second review (remotely) by the Commission and the Expert reviewers next week! Looking forward to fruitful discussions and feedback!
#H2020 #swinostics #Eu #research ... See MoreSee Less
Inside the Swine Virus: Porcine Circovirus 2 - PCV2
Growth retardation can be seen is some piglets as a result of PCV2 systemic disease ... See MoreSee Less
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Inside the Swine Virus: Porcine Circovirus 2 - PCV2
PCV2 (porcine circovirus 2) systemic disease (PCV2-SD), formerly called as postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) was first identified in Canada in the early-mid 90s. The initial reports described outbreaks of increased nursery mortality, significant lymph node enlargement, jaundice, diarrhea, respiratory disease, and wasting. Soon after similar outbreaks were reported from the area, and later from all over the world, and the causative agent has been identified and named PCV2. PCV2 belongs to the Circovirus genus in the Circoviridae family. They are non-enveloped, icosahedral viruses with a diameter of 12–23 nm, and have circular, covalently closed single-stranded DNA genome. Various challenge experiments made it obvious that PCV2 is a necessary but insufficient cause of PCV2-SD (PMWS) and it fulfills the Evans’ postulates rather than the Koch’s postulates, as other infectious and/or noninfectious cofactors were necessary to provoke the disease upon infection with PCV2. Commercial PCV2 vaccines are available on the market since 2006 and the widely used vaccination programs have significantly reduced the economic losses caused by the clinical and subclinical forms of the disease. A second genetic change (PCV2b–PCV2d) is being described worldwide as more and more PCV2d strains are identified in the clinical cases.
Since the viruses are ubiquitous, the diagnosis requires quantitative or at least semiquantitative assessment of the viral load. Generally, the more virus is found in the tissues and/or in the serum, the higher the likelihood of a PCV2 associated disease in the given animal.
The SWINOSTICS instrument will provide quantitative diagnosis of the virus using antibodies that are capable to detect every known PCV2 genetic variant.
The picture show PCV2 Cap antigen detected by immunohistochemistry in the lymph node of a pig. ... See MoreSee Less
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