Situation of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus infection in subclinically infected pigs

Abstract

Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is an acute infectious disease caused by the PED virus (PEDV), a member of the Coronaviridae family. The pigs at 8 to 12 weeks of age are normally infected with PED in subclinical situation. Therefore, early identifying the pigs suffering with PED in the subclinical situation in farm by the rapid diagnostic method is very essential for PEDV prevention and control. In this study, 13-20 fecal samples per farm were collected and pooled to determine PEDV infection at farm level in some Northern provinces by RT-LAMP method. The studied results showed that testing PEDV from 1 or 2 pooled samples per farm was effective in quickly identifying PEDV infection at the farm level. The average infection rate of pig with PEDV in subclinical situation in some Northern provinces was 38.2%, this circumstance might increase the risk of PEDV crosscontamination between the farms during the pig movement and transportation. This outcome will provide information for the design and implementation of surveillance programs to reduce the risk of
PEDV spread from subclinically infected pigs.