First detection of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in Korean wild boars

Introduction:

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is characterized as highly contagious and severe digestive failure in domestic pigs. Wild boar (Sus scrofa) population is considered as reservoir of several viral pathogen such as CSFV, ASFV, ADV, PCV, HEV, and PRRSV. Nevertheless, there were no reports on the prevalence and reservoir of PEDV in wild boar population. Therefore, we investigated the presence of the PEDV in the fecal samples of wild boar population during 2010-2011.

Materials and Methods:

All of the 287 fecal samples of wild boar were obtained from hunters during 2010-2011. The samples were analyzed by RT-PCR and sequencing method with primer pairs which target partial spike genome. The nucleotide sequences were aligned by Clustal W program. The phylogenetic tree was constructed by MEGA 6 with reference sequences that were obtained from GenBank.

Results:

The 28 samples were determined to be PEDV positive during 2010-2011. Positive rates of PEDV in wild boar was 9.9% (28/287). The samples were distributed throughout the mainland of South Korea. Especially, Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces were the most prevalent regions of PEDV positive. The phylogenetic analysis showed that the genetic relation of PEDV of Korean wild boar was considerably adjacent with Chinese PEDV isolates (KP728470, KP162057, KJ158152, KC210146, JN601051, KR514323, JQ239432, KP403802, JN601045, JN547228 and KC886300), showing 95.5-100% identity.

Conclusion:

This study is the first discovery of PEDV in wild boar population. The data suggest that the PEDVs in wild boar were broadly spread in Korean territory. These findings may provide a new perspective in control of PEDV in domestic pigs.

Disclosure of Interest: None Declared.

Published in the proceedings of the International Pig Veterinary Society Congress – IPVS2016. For information on the event, past and future editions, check out https://www.theipvs.com/future-congresses/.