Frequent infection of wild boar with atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV)

Abstract

The recently identified atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV) was demonstrated to be the causative agent of the neurological disorder "congenital tremor" in newborn piglets. Despite its relevance and wide distribution in domestic pigs, so far nothing is known about the situation in wild boar, representing an important wild animal reservoir for the related classical swine fever virus. In this study, 456 wild boar serum samples obtained from northern Germany were investigated for the presence of APPV genomes and virus-specific antibodies. Results of real-time RT-PCR analyses revealed a genome detection rate of 19%. Subsequent genetic characterization of APPV (n = 12) from different hunting areas demonstrated close genetic relationship and, with exception of APPV from one location, displayed less than 3.3% differences in the analysed partial NS3 encoding region. Furthermore, indirect E ELISA revealed an antibody detection rate of approx. 52%, being in line with the high number of viremic wild boar. Analysis of fifteen wild boar samples from the Republic of Serbia by E antibody ELISA provided evidence that APPV is also abundant in wild boar populations outside Germany. High number of genome and seropositive animals suggest that wild boar may serve as an important virus reservoir for APPV.

Seroprevalences of Newly Discovered Porcine Pestiviruses in German Pig Farms

“…This virus species is a supposedly important newly discovered pestivirus as it is linked to CT in newborn pigs and survey studies based on RT-PCR testing already showed the presence of viral genome in various countries around the globe. The first serological studies based on the testing of current samples by an in-house ELISA system demonstrated a higher seroprevalence in comparison to virus prevalences detected by RT-PCR in domestic pigs [17] or boar [31]. Even though the mentioned ELISA system is based on a different structural protein (E rns ), both systems, i.e., the E rns -based ELISA and the E1/E2-based chimeric pestivirus, provided concordant results showing a high APPV-specific seroprevalence and only few samples that were positive for viral APPV RNA.…”

An emerging novel virus: Atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV)

“…All of the results demonstrated that APPV was highly prevalent in both apparently healthy pigs and CT‐affected pigs, suggesting the virus may have spread worldwide. A most recent finding shows that presence of APPV genome in the serum samples of wild boars in Germany reached 19%, suggesting that the wild boars may be an important APPV reservoir . Therefore, an intensive epidemiological investigation on domestic pigs and wild boars in a wider geographical area is urgently needed in the future.…”

Guidance on estimation of wild boar population abundance and density: methods, challenges, possibilities

“…Wild boar may be a carrier of many pathogens (Ruiz-Fons et al 2008) that threaten livestock (Gortázar et al 2007) or humans (i.e. Wild boar may carry many unknown or newly discovered agents (Postel et al 2016, Cagatay et al 2018) of substantial economic importance (Höfle et al 2004, i.e. Ruiz-Fons 2015).…”

“…The recent emergence of African Swine Fever (ASF) in Eastern Europe is of major importance. Wild boar may carry many unknown or newly discovered agents (Postel et al 2016, Cagatay et al 2018) of substantial economic importance (Höfle et al 2004, i.e. veterinary administration, human medicine, trading, food production etc.…”