BackgroundPorcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is a syndrome that is characterized by rapidly spreading watery diarrhea affecting pigs of all ages, but with major effects on suckling piglets. The disease, as well as the causative Alphacoronavirus, the Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), was first described in Europe in the 1970s and since then has spread over many Asian and American countries, where it recently led to devastating effects on swine health and pork industry. While the disease was seldom reported in Europe within the last few decades, a few recent reports re-emergence of PED in German pig farms. The hitherto isolated German strain seems to be closely related to a low pathogenic PEDV variant from the USA. This case report describes the first detection of PEDV in Austria.Case presentationReduced feed uptake and occasional diarrhea were observed in December 2014 in a group of fattening pigs, kept on an Austrian swine farm. The concerned pigs had been recently purchased from Germany. Within a few weeks, diarrhea became apparent also in pigs of Austrian origin, which were kept in a different stable on the same farm. Gastrointestinal symptoms among fattening pigs were generally mild, quickly resolving and did not lead to death. PEDV RNA was identified by RT-qPCR in pooled feces and serum and PEDV antibodies were detectable in serum in both groups of pigs. Phylogenetic analysis of the nearly complete PEDV spike gene shows that the Austrian PEDV strain is highly similar to other strains involved in recent outbreaks in Western and Central Europe.ConclusionThis is the first report demonstrating the presence of PEDV in Austria. The virus was probably introduced by purchasing piglets from a German source, which underlines the significance of trans-boundary animal trade for the distribution of highly contagious diseases, such as PED.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-015-0624-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The aim of the study was to prove a correlation between creatine kinase (CK; EC 2.7.3.2.) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST; EC 2.6.1.1.) activities in serum and the severity of endometritis. We (i) determined clinical and clinical-chemical (CK, AST, bilirubin) parameters on 87 cows with abomasal displacement (DA), (ii) measured CK, AST and glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH; EC 1.4.1.2.) in serum and uterine tissue samples in 10 slaughter cows, and (iii) compared the serum reaction (CK, AST, bilirubin) of six healthy, non-pregnant cows after an inter-auterine application of a mild irritating 0.2% peroxyacetic acid (Uterofertil) with that of four healthy cows after an intrauterine application of 0.9% sodium chloride solution. Uterine tissue contains high activities of CK (2940 +/- 1140 U/g protein) and AST (159 +/- 25 U/g protein). Cows with DA have increased serum CK and AST activities, which correlate with the degree of endometritis. The DA without endometritis also comes along with slightly increased CK (quartiles 181, 259 and 288 U/l) and AST (101, 138 and 199 U/l) activities. In pregnant cows these activities are higher than in non-pregnant cows. Irritation of the uterus with Uterofertil leads to increased serum CK but not AST. After the exclusion of evaluated CK as a result of muscular damage or hypocalcaemia, this enzyme can be used as a screening parameter in the diagnosis of endometritis. In each clinical case it is necessary to determine if increased AST activities are muscle-, liver- or uterus-dependent.

BackgroundIn recent years, several new ELISAs for the detection of antibodies against the porcine reproductive and respiratory disease virus (PRRSV) in pig serum have been developed. To interpret the results, specificity and sensitivity data as well as agreement to a reference ELISA must be available. In this study, three commercial ELISAs (INgezim PRRS 2.0 - ELISA II, Priocheck® PRRSV Ab porcine – ELISA III and CIVTEST suis PRRS E/S PLUS - ELISA IV, detecting PRRSV type 1 antibodies) were compared to a standard ELISA (IDEXX PRRS X3 Ab Test - ELISA I). The serum of three pigs vaccinated with an attenuated PRRSV live vaccine (genotype 2) was tested prior to and several times after the vaccination. Furthermore, serum samples of 245 pigs of PRRSV positive herds, 309 pigs of monitored PRRSV negative herds, 256 fatteners of assumed PRRSV negative herds with unknown herd history and 92 wild boars were tested with all four ELISAs.ResultsELISAs II and III were able to detect seroconversion of vaccinated pigs with a similar reliability. According to kappa coefficient, the results showed an almost perfect agreement between ELISA I as reference and ELISA II and III (kappa > 0.8), and substantial agreement between ELISA I and ELISA IV (kappa = 0.71). Sensitivity of ELISA II, III and IV was 96.0%, 100% and 91.5%, respectively. The specificity of the ELISAs determined in samples of monitored PRRSV negative herds was 99.0%, 95.1% and 96.4%, respectively. In assumed negative farms that were not continually monitored, more positive samples were found with ELISA II to IV. The reference ELISA I had a specificity of 100% in this study.ConclusionsAll tested ELISAs were able to detect a PRRSV positive herd. The specificity and sensitivity of the tested commercial ELISAs, however, differed. ELISA II had the highest specificity and ELISA III had the highest sensitivity in comparison to the reference ELISA. ELISA IV had a lower sensitivity and specificity than the other ELISAs.

Toxoplasma gondii is the aetiological agent of the zoonotic disease toxoplasmosis and transmitted among other ways by chemically and physically untreated, that is, raw pork to humans. The detection of Toxoplasma gondii is impossible by currently practiced meat inspection, but serological tests can be used to detect Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in pig herds and can consequently be helpful to identify potentially contaminated pork. Therefore, appropriate serological tests are required. In this study, serum samples of 1368 naturally exposed slaughter pigs from 73 Austrian farms were collected. Serum samples of at least 16 slaughter pigs per farm were tested. The prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in serum was measured by a commercial available modified agglutination test (MAT) and compared to three different commercial available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). The MAT detected 6.5%, ELISA I 6.7%, ELISA II 4.8% and ELISA III 4.3% of the pigs as Toxoplasma gondii antibody positive. The agreement, according to the kappa coefficient (κ), was substantial between the MAT and ELISA I (κ = 0.62), II (κ = 0.64) and III (κ = 0.67). A better agreement was determined between ELISA I and II (κ = 0.715), ELISA I and III (κ = 0.747) and ELISA II and III (κ = 0.865). At least one pig per farm was detected Toxoplasma gondii antibody positive in 17 (23.3%) farms by the MAT, 26 (35.6%) farms by ELISA I, 16 (21.9%) farms by ELISA II and 11 (15.1%) farms by ELISA III. Pig farms with a high number of Toxoplasma gondii antibody-positive pigs or high antibody titres were identified by all of the four used serological tests. Concerning the occurrence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in Austrian pig farms, a monitoring and surveillance programme would be reasonable to find high-risk farms.