Effect of temperature on the survival of porcine circovirus type 2b in fresh pork.

Porcine circovirus type 2b (PCV2b) causes PCV-associated disease in pigs. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of temperature on the survival of PCV2b in fresh pork. Several pieces of longissimus dorsi muscle were injected with 100 μL of a suspension containing 10(5.2) TCID50 (50% tissue culture infective doses) of the virus. Virus-inoculated pieces of pork were stored at 25 °C, 4 °C and -20 °C and tested for the presence of infectious virus after different times of storage. PCV2b was found to survive in fresh pork for up to 2 days post inoculation (dpi) at room temperature, for 6 dpi at 4 °C and for up to 30 dpi at -20 °C indicating that the survival of PCV2b in fresh pork depends on temperature of storage.