Porcine kobuvirus from pig stool specimens in Shanghai, China

In this study, a total of 116 stool specimens were collected from pigs of different ages in three pig farms of Shanghai in China during 2010. Forty-five (38.8%) stool specimens were positive for porcine kobuvirus using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The prevalence rate of porcine kobuvirus in the three pig farms which are located in Minhang District, Qingpu District and Fengxian District was 46.7%(21/45), 35.1%(13/37), and 32.4%(11/34), respectively. We demonstrated that porcine kobuvirus infections are existent in certain domestic pigs in Shanghai and high prevalence of this virus was found in the piglets under the age of 6 weeks and in pigs with diarrhea in Shanghai. Twenty-seven representative strains of porcine kobuvirus detected in this study were randomly selected based on the equal distribution of the sampling date throughout the study and analyzed for their phylogenetic relationships with other kobuvirus reference strains. The phylogenetic analysis suggested the presence of multiple porcine kobuvirus lineages in Shanghai, China.