A sero-epizootiological study of porcine respiratory coronavirus in Belgian swine.

A porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV), antigenically closely related to transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), appeared in the European swine population in 1984. The present serological study was performed to obtain insight into the epizootiology of PRCV and of TGEV. PRCV-induced neutralizing antibodies were found in 90.6 per cent of the 160 sera collected from sows at slaughter, demonstrating the enzootic appearance of PRCV in the Belgian swine population. A serological study of fattening swine on 33 farms revealed that 11 farms situated in an area with a high farm density (all farms within 4 km2) and 11 on 22 closed breeding-fattening farms situated in areas with a low farm density (only one to four farms per 12 km2) were infected with PRCV throughout the year, whereas the other 11 closed breeding-fattening farms were temporarily free of PRCV. PRCV disappeared from the farms mainly in spring and summer. All the 11 farms became reinfected in autumn or winter, indicating that PRCV is regularly reintroduced in farms in the colder seasons. There was no correlation between the herd size and the temporary disappearance of PRCV from farms. It was observed on some farms that PRCV could infect pigs shortly after weaning in the presence of declining maternal antibodies, indicating that PRCV can persist on a farm by regularly infecting newly weaned pigs. TGEV-specific antibodies were found in 7.6 per cent of the 160 sera from the slaughterhouse sows. TGEV-specific antibodies were also detected in sera from fattening swine of 5 of the above mentioned 33 farms. TGEV-outbreaks were not observed on these farms.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)