New, non-PEDV coronavirus detected in pigs with diarrhea

The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) is informing porkproducers and veterinarians that a new coronavirus has been detected in pigfecal samples from four swine labs in Ohio by Dr. Yan Zhang, a virologist fromODA’s Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL). The virus cannot spread tohumans or other species and poses no risk to food safety.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) is informing pork producers and veterinarians that a new coronavirus has been detected in pig fecal samples from four swine labs in Ohio by Dr. Yan Zhang, a virologist from ODA's Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL). The virus cannot spread to humans or other species and poses no risk to food safety.

The farms from which the samples were taken experienced outbreaks of a diarrheal disease in sows and piglets in January and early February of 2014. The clinical signs of the disease were similar to that of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) and transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), which are both caused by coronaviruses. Electronmicropy of fecal samples from the four farms showed the presence of coronavirus-like viral particles. In one of the four farms, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for TGEV and PEDV currently circulating in the U.S. were negative, but all 10 samples were positive for a new virus. PEDV and the new virus were detected in fecal samples from the other three farms.

Sequence analysis of the new coronavirus shows that it is a deltacoronavirus, distinct from PEDV and TGEV. The new virus has been designated as Swine DeltaCoronavirus (SDCV). Further study is needed to confirm whether this virus is the cause of diarrheal disease in affected pigs.

The ADDL offers PCR tests that can detect PEDV, SDCV and TGEV.

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