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. 2024 Oct 12;11(10):496.
doi: 10.3390/vetsci11100496.

Infectious Agents Associated with Abortion Outbreaks in Italian Pig Farms from 2011 to 2021

Anna Donneschi  1 , Matteo Recchia  1 , Claudia Romeo  1   2 , Paolo Pozzi  3 , Cristian Salogni  1 , Antonio Marco Maisano  1 , Giovanni Santucci  1 , Federico Scali  1 , Silvia Faccini  1 , Maria Beatrice Boniotti  1 , Mario D'Incau  1 , Dominiek Maes  4 , Giovanni Loris Alborali  1
Affiliations

Infectious Agents Associated with Abortion Outbreaks in Italian Pig Farms from 2011 to 2021

Anna Donneschi et al. Vet Sci. .

Abstract

The present study retrospectively analyzed the infectious agents associated with 829 abortion outbreaks occurring from 2011 to 2021 in northern Italy. Foetuses were subjected to necropsies, and organ samples were analyzed by direct PCR to screen for six swine pathogens. In 42.0% of the examined outbreaks, at least one infectious agent was found. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) (24.9%) and porcine circovirus-2 (PCV2) (11.5%) were the most frequently detected among the known abortion-inducing pathogens. Chlamydia spp. (5.6%), porcine parvovirus (PPV) (4.0%), and Leptospira spp. (2.6%) were less common. Although its role in swine reproductive disorders is still unclear, PCV3 was detected in 19.6% of the cases. Coinfections were detected in 25.0% of positive outbreaks, and the most frequent coinfection was represented by PRRSV and PCV2 (32.2%), followed by PRRSV and PCV3 (23%). PCV2 prevalence showed a slight but consistent reduction during the study period, while PCV3 increased in frequency. Our data suggest an overall reduction in abortion outbreaks during the study period. PRRSV was confirmed as the main abortion agent detected in the examined area, while PCV2 prevalence showed a decline. Conversely, PCV3 detection has been increasing, supporting its potential role as an abortion agent. Our results highlight the importance of implementing a consistent and standardized sampling procedure, as well as a thorough diagnostic protocol, to reduce the incidence of inconclusive diagnoses.

Keywords: abortion-inducing pathogens; diagnostic protocol; farrowing unit; porcine fetuses; reproductive failure; sow.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location of Italian swine breeding farms that submitted aborted fetuses to the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell’Emilia Romagna (IZSLER, Brescia, Italy) for analysis between 2011 and 2021, with a focus on northern Italy, where most of the samples came from. As detailed in the figure legend, the circle size is proportional to the number of abortion outbreaks in each farm during the study period, and background colors indicate the density of breeders in each administrative province.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of swine samples submitted for analyses to IZSLER and number of abortion-related submissions by year.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Infectious agents were detected in abortion outbreaks occurring from 2011 to 2021 in the subset of 15 pig farms with the highest number of outbreaks over the period. PCV3, Chlamydia spp., and Leptospira spp. were included in routine screenings only from 2015 onwards. Light gray cells indicate no abortion outbreaks within that year.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Probability by year and season for a pig abortion outbreak of being associated with PRRSV (a), PCV2 (b), and PCV3 (c). PCV3 was routinely included in the screening protocol only from 2015 onwards.
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