Farmscape for November 9, 2020

South Dakota State University has launched an investigation of the relationship between Porcine parvovirus 2 and a range of conditions and syndromes in pigs.
Porcine parvovirus is well known to the pork sector and we know that PPV1 causes respiratory problems, reproductive problems and can result in abortions.
Dr. Paul Sundberg, the Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center, says there are at least seven strains and we know that over time viruses will adapt and change and this study is going to look specifically at Porcine parvovirus 2, which has been identified as a potentially emerging issue.

Clip-Dr. Paul Sundberg-Swine Health Information Center:
We're going to start with doing a retrospective type of study and looking at the tissues that have already been submitted to South Dakota State University and test those for PPV2 to see if that virus is implicated in some of those clinical type of syndromes and conditions that the tissues have been submitted for.
That kind of looks back to see if we've missed something, if Porcine parvovirus 2 has been longer than what we thought.
It's also going to be used in some prospective studies to look at, especially with pneumonias and respiratory issues coming into the laboratory, to be able to use a PCR, some new tests for Porcine parvovirus 2 specifically to see if that parvovirus is identified and might be related to some of these clinal syndromes.
Certainly finding it doesn't necessary mean it's causing the problem but a relationship is good evidence and it's something that might point out that we need to look further to see if there's a role for this parvovirus in respiratory issues.

Dr. Sundberg acknowledges the work is in its very early stages but he hopes to see some preliminary results within the next few months.
Details on this work can be accessed at swinehealth.org.
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Bruce Cochrane.

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