A "Veterinary Microbiology" article details the isolation of contemporary Porcine Sapovirus field strains from swine herds in the United States. A recently published article in the journal "Veterinary Microbiology" details a Swine Health Information Center funded study conducted by researchers at Ohio State University and Veterinary Health Services at Omaha and outlines the successful isolation of contemporary Porcine Sapovirus field strains from U.S. swine herds.
SHIC Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says Porcine Sapovirus affects pigs of all ages, resulting in mild to moderate diarrhea resulting in reduced weight gain but pigs that are weaning or post weaned seem to be most susceptible.
Quote-Dr. Lisa Becton-Swine Health Information Center:
Five sow farms in Nebraska were sampled. These farms experienced a gastrointestinal outbreak in pigs between 12 to 18 days of age.In total there was 35 fecal samples submitted and seven small intestinal samples submitted for this study.The samples were all screened for Genogroup-3 by PCR and it showed that 25 out of the 42 total samples were positive for Porcine Sapovirus.
Four of the five herds sampled were also positive and they had positivity rates anywhere between 33 to 100 percent. A lot of this was seen in suckling and post weaned pigs.They also were looking at next gen sequencing to try to identify what changes this virus has undergone and it was noted that three out of the four farms that were positive had similar viruses with one showing some changes in the virus composition.
Lastly, they did perform a cell line evaluation to try to understand and identify different cells that could grow the virus in order to help with diagnostic development and future vaccine development.
Dr. Becton suggests this information will be of value to producers, veterinarians and other researchers. Details of this work can be found in SHIC's January 2026 eNewsletter at swinehealth.org.
Source : Farmscape.ca