What’s the Best Way to Detect Porcine Astrovirus Type 4?

Porcine astrovirus type 4 (PoAstV4) is a respiratory pathogen that causes a cough in late farrowing and nursery phases, along with tracheal lesions upon necropsy. Because there is limited knowledge on how this pathogen is related to clinical signs associated with the virus in pigs during farrowing and nursery production, Emma Zwart set out to learn more.

Zwart, a student in the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, conducted this research as part of her experience in the Iowa State University’s SVIP (Swine Veterinary Internship Program) where she was hosted by Swine Vet Center and sponsored by Merck Animal Health.

“Increasing knowledge of sampling strategies allows for enhanced detection of disease, assessment of PAstV4 prevalence in the population, and may improve therapeutic interventions and control of disease,” she says.

She presented the findings of her study that looked at clinical signs of this virus and what sampling techniques may be best for detection and surveillance of this virus at the American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting in San Francisco.

What’s the Best Sampling Method?

Zwart enrolled 36 litters in a sow farm that had recently tested positive for PoAstV4 and had a cough in late farrowing and early nursery. She followed the same group of pigs that were identified in the sow farm to the nursery, which was a total of 8 pens in the nursery. In the sow farm, she sampled each litter three times (4, 11 and 18 days of age) with udder wipes, family oral fluids and nasal swabs of five piglets per litter.