EU - Control of Porcine Circovirus Diseases (PCVDs)

The EU Sixth Framework project on porcine circovirus disease (PCVD) initiated in December 2004 is now fully operational. The project is being delivered by a multidisciplinary consortium from academia and industry with a total of 15 partners from North America and the EU. The overall budget is in excess of 6 million euro of with an EU contribution to this project of 3.45 million euro. Full information is available on the project website (www.pcvd.org). The website is available in English and Spanish and project partners are working on translating key elements into other EU languages. There are nine work packages (WPs) in the project. The main aim is to generate information and control measures for porcine circovirus diseases that will have a positive impact on the health and welfare of pigs. There are work packages on Standardisation and harmonisation of reagents (WP1); Epizootiology (WP2); Genetics (WP3); Viral replication (WP4); Pathogenesis (WP5); Immunology (WP6); Nutrition (WP7); Vaccinology and control (WP8) and Information dissemination (WP9). All the work packages have been initiated and are progressing satisfactorily. All the partners are pro-actively contributing to the work programme. The project website (www.pcvd.org) has recently been updated with progress reports from the work package managers. The project consortium has agreed a much-needed case definition of PMWS Now that this definition is in place detailed epidemiological studies can proceed within the consortium using agreed diagnostic criteria. The case definition can be found on the project website (www.pcvd.org). The PCVD consortium would welcome feedback on their case definition of PMWS. A new expanded PCVD project will be launched in January 2006 that will bring together the EU New Member States and Accession Countries into an information dissemination and training network. This new project will be funded under a Specific Support Action from Brussels.