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Review
. 2021 Nov;68(6):2936-2948.
doi: 10.1111/tbed.14204. Epub 2021 Jul 8.

Porcine circovirus 3 (PCV-3) as a causal agent of disease in swine and a proposal of PCV-3 associated disease case definition

Viviane Saporiti  1 , Giovanni Franzo  2 , Marina Sibila  1   3 , Joaquim Segalés  3   4   5
Affiliations
Review

Porcine circovirus 3 (PCV-3) as a causal agent of disease in swine and a proposal of PCV-3 associated disease case definition

Viviane Saporiti et al. Transbound Emerg Dis. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

Porcine circovirus 3 (PCV-3) was discovered in 2015 using next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods. Since then, the virus has been detected worldwide in pigs displaying several clinical-pathological outcomes as well as in healthy animals. The objective of this review is to critically discuss the evidence existing so far regarding PCV-3 as a swine pathogen. In fact, a significant number of publications claim PCV-3 as a disease causal infectious agent, but very few of them have shown strong evidence of such potential causality. The most convincing proofs of disease association are those that demonstrate a clinical picture linked to multisystemic lymphoplasmacytic to lymphohistiocytic perivascular inflammation and presence of viral nucleic acid within these lesions. Based on these evidence, individual case definitions for PCV-3-reproductive disease and PCV-3-systemic disease are proposed to standardize diagnostic criteria for PCV-3-associated diseases. However, the real frequency of these clinical-pathological conditions linked to the novel virus is unknown, and the most frequent outcome of PCV-3 infection is likely subclinical based on its worlwide distribution.

Keywords: case definition; disease causality; porcine circovirus 3 (PCV-3); reproductive disease; systemic disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

None of the contributing authors has any conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Proposed diagnostic criteria for the individual case definition of PCV‐3‐associated reproductive (A, B, C) and systemic disease (D, E, F). PCV‐3‐reproductive disease: (A) stillborn piglet from a litter with a late reproductive problem characterized by increased percentage of stillborn and weak‐born piglets, (B) mild‐to‐moderate mononuclear inflammatory infiltrates in the arterial wall of the fetal spleen and (C) moderate to high amount of PCV‐3 nucleic acid in the damaged arterial area. PCV‐3‐systemic disease: (D) clinical picture of a pig showing wasting, (E) moderate‐to‐severe non‐suppurative arteritis in the heart and (F) high amount of PCV‐3 genome in the damaged artery
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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