A Re-Emerging Epizootic Swine Virus: Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus.
Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus is an economically relevant viral agent associated with diseases in pigs. In a farm which has experienced PEDV outbreak, the infected pigs show severe alimentary system disorders characterized by symptoms such as vomiting, watery diarrhea, dehydration and growth retardation, and the young piglets usually have a higher mortality rate.
As a member of the Coronaviridae family and the Nidovirales order, PEDV
is an enveloped, positive-sense, single stranded RNA virus. The PEDV genome comprises of
a 5’- and 3’- terminal untranslated region flanking a large replicase gene and a couple of
structural protein genes, approximately encompassing 28 kb size in length.
PEDV is a typical re-emerging epizootic swine virus. The first PEDV epidemic was described in the United Kingdom in 1971, and subsequently spread to the areas of Europe supporting the maximum pig livestock, but without the recognition of a causative agent until 1977. After the 1980s, the clinical reports of PEDV gradually declined in Europe and finally began to disappear, persisting only in a few pig farms in Europe.
Therefore, the PEDV was not intensively studied at that time. Meanwhile, PEDV spread globally, affecting various other areas such as the Asian countries in 1980s. The first PEDV epidemics in the Asian sub-continent was reported for the first time in 1982 in Japan, and then spread to adjacent countries such as South Korea and China.
Vet Med Open J. 2017; SE(1): Se1-Se2. doi: 10.17140/VMOJ-SE-1-e001
