The assessment of efficacy of porcine reproductive respiratory syndrome virus inactivated vaccine based on the viral quantity and inactivation methods.

Kim H, Kim HK, Jung JH, Choi YJ, Kim J, Um CG, Hyun SB, Shin S, Lee B, Jang G, Kang BK, Moon HJ, Song DS.

Abstract

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND:

There have been many efforts to develop efficient vaccines for the control of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). Although inactivated PRRSV vaccines are preferred for their safety, they are weak at inducing humoral immune responses and controlling field PRRSV infection, especially when heterologous viruses are involved.

RESULTS:

In all groups, the sample to positive (S/P) ratio of IDEXX ELISA and the virus neutralization (VN) titer remained negative until challenge. While viremia did not reduce in the vaccinated groups, the IDEXX-ELISA-specific immunoglobulin G increased more rapidly and to significantly greater levels 7 days after the challenge in all the vaccinated groups compared to the non-vaccinated groups (p < 0.05). VN titer was significantly different in the 106 PFU/mL PRRSV vaccine-inoculated and binary ethylenimine (BEI)-inactivated groups 22 days after challenge (p < 0.05). Consequently, the inactivated vaccines tested in this study provided weak memory responses with sequential challenge without any obvious active immune responses in the vaccinated pigs.

CONCLUSIONS:

The inactivated vaccine failed to show the humoral immunity, but it showed different immune response after the challenge compared to mock group. Although the 106 PFU/mL-vaccinated and BEI-inactivated groups showed significantly greater VN titers 22 days after challenge, all the groups were already negative for viremia.

Virol J. 2011 Jun 27;8(1):323. [Epub ahead of print]

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) influences infection dynamics of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) subtypes PCV2a and PCV2b by prolonging PCV2 viremia and shedding.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection on porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) subtypes a (PCV2a) or b (PCV2b) viremia and shedding characteristics in oral, nasal and fecal samples in experimentally infected pigs. Twenty-three, 2- to 6-week-old pigs were randomly divided into five groups: negative control (n=3), PCV2a-I (n=5), PCV2a-PRRSV-CoI (n=5), PCV2b-I (n=5), and PCV2b-PRRSV-CoI (n=5). Blood, oral, nasal and fecal swabs were collected in regular intervals from day post inoculation (dpi) 0 until dpi 70 and tested by quantitative real-time PCR for the presence and amount of PCV2 DNA and by ELISA for the presence of PCV2-specific antibodies. The results indicate that there were significantly (P<0.05) higher loads of PCV2a and PCV2b DNA in serum, oral swabs, nasal swabs and fecal swabs and a higher prevalence of detectable PCV2 antigen in tissues of pigs concurrently infected with PCV2 and PRRSV compared to pigs singularly infected with PCV2 further confirming that PRRSV enhances replication of PCV2. Moreover, PRRSV infection significantly prolonged the presence of PCV2 DNA in serum and increased the amount of PCV2 DNA in oral and nasal secretions and fecal excretions in the later stages of infection between dpi 28 and 70. Shedding patterns were similar between groups infected with PCV2a and PCV2b, indicating that there was no subtype-specific interaction with the PRRSV isolate used in this study. The results from this study highlight the interaction between PRRSV and PCV2 and the importance of controlling PRRSV infection in order to reduce PCV2 virus loads in pig populations.

Sinha A, Shen H G, Schalk S, Beach N M, Huang Y W, Meng X J, Halbur P G, Opriessnig T. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) influences infection dynamics of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) subtypes PCV2a and PCV2b by prolonging PCV2 viremia and shedding. Veterinary microbiology 2011 [accepted].

nothing new in this past weeks.

Stay tuned. Our system is checking for new "field PRRS" publications in a daily basis. We will keep you posted.
Thank you.

Daniel Linhares

Airborne transmission reviewed and discussed!

Desrosiers R. Transmission of swine pathogens: different means, different needs. Anim Health Res Rev 2011 Jan:1-13.

Abstract

There seems to be two main types of pathogens that cause diseases in swine: those that are mainly introduced through direct pig contacts, and those that are often, and in some situations mainly introduced by indirect transmission means. In this review, the mange mite (Sarcoptes scabiei), toxigenic Pasteurella multocida and Brachyspira hyodysenteriae will be used as examples of the first type, and foot and mouth disease virus, Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus as examples of the second. It is now clear from various epidemiological studies as well as experimental and field data that aerosol transmission of some swine pathogens plays an important role in their epidemiology. As previous biosecurity programs did not take this factor into consideration, it can at least partially explain why many of these programs suffered frequent failures and why air filtration is now becoming increasingly popular in North America. Identifying and quantifying transmission means should be a priority for every important infectious disease for which it has not been done.

Keywords: Swine, pathogen, transmission, direct, indirect

Median infectious dose (ID50) of PRRS isolate MN-184 via aerosol exposure

 Cutler T D, Wang C, Hoff S J, Kittawornrat A, Zimmerman J. 2011. Median infectious dose (ID(50)) of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus isolate MN-184 via aerosol exposure. Veterinary microbiology

Abstract

The median infectious dose (ID(50)) of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus isolate MN-184 was determined for aerosol exposure. In 7 replicates, 3-week-old pigs (n=58) respired 10l of airborne PRRS virus from a dynamic aerosol toroid (DAT) maintained at -4°C. Thereafter, pigs were housed in isolation and monitored for evidence of infection. Infection occurred at virus concentrations too low to quantify by microinfectivity assays. Therefore, exposure dose was determined using two indirect methods ("calculated" and "theoretical"). "Calculated" virus dose was derived from the concentration of rhodamine B monitored over the exposure sequence. "Theoretical" virus dose was based on the continuous stirred-tank reactor model. The ID(50) estimate was modeled on the proportion of pigs that became infected using the probit and logit link functions for both "calculated" and "theoretical" exposure doses. Based on "calculated" doses, the probit and logit ID(50) estimates were 1×10(-0.13)TCID(50) and 1×10(-0.14)TCID(50), respectively. Based on "theoretical" doses, the probit and logit ID(50) were 1×10(0.26)TCID(50) and 1×10(0.24)TCID(50), respectively. For each point estimate, the 95% confidence interval included the other three point estimates. The results indicated that MN-184 was far more infectious than PRRS virus isolate VR-2332, the only other PRRS virus isolate for which ID(50) has been estimated for airborne exposure. Since aerosol ID(50) estimates are available for only these two isolates, it is uncertain whether one or both of these isolates represent the normal range of PRRS virus infectivity by this route.

Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PMID: 21474258 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Keywords:

PRRS virus, Aerobiology, Transmission, Infectious dose ID50, Dose–response

Comparison of RNA extraction and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction methods for the detection of Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in porcine oral fluid specimens

Chittick W A, Stensland W R, Prickett J R, Strait E L, Harmon K, Yoon K, Wang C, Zimmerman J. 2011. Comparison of RNA extraction and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction methods for the detection of Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in porcine oral fluid specimens. Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation 23(2):248-253.

Abstract

The objective of the current study was to evaluate various RNA extraction and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocols for the detection of Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) in porcine oral fluids. Extraction protocols were selected based on ease of use and compatibility with high-throughput, automated systems. The results showed marked differences among extraction protocols, PCR protocols, and combinations thereof in detecting PRRSV in the oral fluid matrix. An important finding was that PCR reactions were partially inhibited by unknown factors in the oral fluid matrix and that inhibition was reduced by use of a higher concentration of PCR enzymes. The results suggest that further optimization of PCR assays for porcine oral fluids is needed and that laboratories should not assume that methods optimized for detection of virus in serum will perform equally with porcine oral fluids.

PMID: 21398443 [PubMed - in process]

Pigs resistant to diseases! Are we ready????

Fan Bin, Onteru S K, Du Z, Garrick D J, Stalder K J, Rothschild M F. 2011. Genome-wide association study identifies Loci for body composition and structural soundness traits in pigs. PLoS ONE 6(2):e14726-e14726.

uouououou! hold on! What does this paper has to do with "Field PRRS" blog?


Well... it is a genome-wide study with pig genome (yes, all - or almost all - pig genes has been mapped and their functions are being studied). This will allow researchers (and genetic companies??) to find out genes associated with specific diseases resistance. Will this research take 1, 2, 3, 10 years to happen? We obviously don't know but let's hope it is soon.

Here is the abstract of this study - enjoy it:

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The recent completion of the swine genome sequencing project and development of a high density porcine SNP array has made genome-wide association (GWA) studies feasible in pigs.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using Illumina's PorcineSNP60 BeadChip, we performed a pilot GWA study in 820 commercial female pigs phenotyped for backfat, loin muscle area, body conformation in addition to feet and leg (FL) structural soundness traits. A total of 51,385 SNPs were jointly fitted using Bayesian techniques as random effects in a mixture model that assumed a known large proportion (99.5%) of SNPs had zero effect. SNP annotations were implemented through the Sus scrofa Build 9 available from pig Ensembl. We discovered a number of candidate chromosomal regions, and some of them corresponded to QTL regions previously reported. We not only have identified some well-known candidate genes for the traits of interest, such as MC4R (for backfat) and IGF2 (for loin muscle area), but also obtained novel promising genes, including CHCHD3 (for backfat), BMP2 (for loin muscle area, body size and several FL structure traits), and some HOXA family genes (for overall leg action). The candidate regions responsible for body conformation and FL structure soundness did not overlap greatly which implied that these traits were controlled by different genes. Functional clustering analyses classified the genes into categories related to bone and cartilage development, muscle growth and development or the insulin pathway suggesting the traits are regulated by common pathways or gene networks that exert roles at different spatial and temporal stages.

CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study is one of the earliest GWA reports on important quantitative traits in pigs, and the findings will contribute to the further biological function analysis of the identified candidate genes and potential utilization of them in marker assisted selection.