The characteristics, emergent properties and manner of spread in Ukraine of the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus

Study of the emergent properties and paths of spreading of PEDV was carried out in a model experiment on newborn non-immune piglets obtained from a PED virus-free pig-breeding enterprise. The piglets were kept in separate specialized containers, with a volume of 1.0 m3, with access only through the opening at the top of the containers. The experimental group of the animals was infected with PEDV isolate extracted on one of the pig farms from the central region of Ukraine. Infection was carried out orally in a dose of 1–10 genome equivalents of virions. The control piglets, which were situated in the same room as the infected animals, were not deliberately infected. The study of biological material from piglets was carried out using the methods of bacteriology, histology and RT-PCR. To confirm the capability of PEDV to spread through house flies, specimens of Musca domestica vicina Mcq. were caught in the building where the experiment was carried out. The washings from the surface of their bodies were collected with sterile saline. Individually, 28 specimens of flies were selected. They were divided into two parts and the amount of virus in the homogenate of the fly bodies in these groups was determined with an interval between measurements of 72 hours. Study of PEDV in the washings and in flies body homogenates were carried out using RT-PCR. It is established that the field strain PEDV, belonging to the North American grouping II of the second group of the PED virus strains, is an emergent highly pathogenic agent for non-immune newborn piglets. In the model of piglets’ infection it is established that the tested PEDV strain has a high virulence for newborn piglets, DCL is 1–10 virions and the incubation period is 18–26 hours. PED is acute with lethality to 100% within 68–72 hours after infection. According to the results of RT-PCR in washing from the surface of the bodies of flies, it is established that one of the ways piglets are infected and the environment contaminated with the PED virus is the spread of the pathogen by the flies M. domestica vicina Mcq. This leads to the induction of the emergent form of PED in piglets. The presence of PEDV in the homogenate from bodies of M. domestica caught in the focus of infection and the absence of virus reproduction in their body confirms the role of the house fly in the mechanical spread of PEDV in the external environment.