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Review
. 2022 Dec;42(1):125-147.
doi: 10.1080/01652176.2022.2079756.

Swine coronaviruses (SCoVs) and their emerging threats to swine population, inter-species transmission, exploring the susceptibility of pigs for SARS-CoV-2 and zoonotic concerns

Jigarji C Thakor  1 , Murali Dinesh  1 , Rajendran Manikandan  2 , Suresh Bindu  2 , Monalisa Sahoo  1 , Diptimayee Sahoo  1 , Manish Dhawan  3   4 , Megha Katare Pandey  5 , Ruchi Tiwari  6 , Talha Bin Emran  7 , Kuldeep Dhama  1 , Wanpen Chaicumpa  8
Affiliations
Review

Swine coronaviruses (SCoVs) and their emerging threats to swine population, inter-species transmission, exploring the susceptibility of pigs for SARS-CoV-2 and zoonotic concerns

Jigarji C Thakor et al. Vet Q. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Swine coronaviruses (SCoVs) are one of the most devastating pathogens affecting the livelihoods of farmers and swine industry across the world. These include transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV), porcine hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus (PHEV), swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV), and porcine delta coronavirus (PDCoV). Coronaviruses infect a wide variety of animal species and humans because these are having single stranded-RNA that accounts for high mutation rates and thus could break the species barrier. The gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and nervous systems are the primary organ systems affected by SCoVs. Infection is very common in piglets compared to adult swine causing high mortality in the former. Bat is implicated to be the origin of all CoVs affecting animals and humans. Since pig is the only domestic animal in which CoVs cause a wide range of diseases; new coronaviruses with high zoonotic potential could likely emerge in the future as observed in the past. The recently emerged severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing COVID-19 pandemic in humans, has been implicated to have animal origin, also reported from few animal species, though its zoonotic concerns are still under investigation. This review discusses SCoVs and their epidemiology, virology, evolution, pathology, wildlife reservoirs, interspecies transmission, spill-over events and highlighting their emerging threats to swine population. The role of pigs amid ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic will also be discussed. A thorough investigation should be conducted to rule out zoonotic potential of SCoVs and to design appropriate strategies for their prevention and control.

Keywords: Coronaviruses; Pig; SARS-CoV-2; porcine; zoonosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that there exist no commercial or financial relationships that could, in any way, lead to a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Systematic classification of important coronaviruses affecting animals and humans.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The chronological time-line of events presenting major coronaviruses outbreaks in swine (upper bar) and humans (lower bar).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Schematic diagram of swine coronavirus (SCoV) virion (S, Spike S structural gene; E, envelope; M, membrane; N, nucleoprotein; HE, hemagglutinin-esterase; Ns3a, Ns6, Ns7, Ns7a, Ns7b are accessory genes) (Mora-Diaz et al. 2021).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Diagrammatic depiction of the source of SARS-CoV-2 from bats and presumed intermediate hosts, such as farm and wild animals. (The transmission of MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV to humans via an intermediate host camel and palm civet cat, respectively. It also illustrates the likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 originating from pigs after genetic recombination, which would enable the SARS-CoV-2 to cross the species boundary and transmit disease to humans.)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Supplementary concepts