Prevalence of antibodies to Aujeszky’s disease virus in wild boar in Poland, between 2011 and 2014: a retrospective study

Abstract

IntroductionAujeszky’s disease virus (ADV) infects a wide range of animals, including members of the Suidae family, i.e. domestic and wild pigs, as well as wild boar. Since wild boar are a potential ADV reservoir and a source of infection for domestic pigs, the aim of the study was to evaluate ADV antibody prevalence in the Polish wild boar population, during the years 2011 to 2014.Material and MethodsWild boar blood samples were collected during three consecutive hunting seasons; i.e. 2011/2012, 2012/2013, and 2013/2014, and tested for ADV antibodies by ELISA.ResultsADV antibodies were detected in samples from all tested voivodships. The average seroprevalence reached 32.2%. Seroprevalence, over the examined hunting seasons, was 27.4% in 2011/2012, 32.4% in 2012/2013, and 35.5% in 2013/2014. The highest percentage of seroreagents was detected in four voivodships, situated along the western border of Poland, i.e. Zachodnio-Pomorskie (ZP), Lubuskie (LB), Dolnośląskie (DS), and Opolskie (OP). This area is positively correlated with the highest density of the wild boar population and the highest wild boar hunting bag.ConclusionThe results of this study confirm that the wild boar population may still pose a threat to domestic pigs, which is of special importance at the final stage of Aujeszky’s disease eradication programme in Poland.

Monitoring of Pseudorabies in Wild Boar of Germany—A Spatiotemporal Analysis

“…With more than 108,000 serum samples tested over a six-year observation period (Table 1), this is by far the most comprehensive study conducted so far, topping even the sample size for Eastern Germany obtained during a 14-year observation period [25]. For comparison, sample sizes in Poland and France amounted to 27,263 and 11,533 [53,54], respectively, while six other studies tested between 2379 and 7021 sera for the presence of PRV specific antibodies in recent years [22,23,[55][56][57][58].…”

“…While clade A PRVs predominantly occur in the Eastern, Middle and Northern parts of Germany, clade B viruses are only found in the far West of the country [16], where they are part of large transboundary infectious cycles [7]. High PRV seroprevalences in wild boar found in neighbouring countries, including Poland, the Czech Republic and Belgium [48,53,61], support this hypothesis. Furthermore, adjacent PRV endemic areas most likely constitute common clusters with those found in border areas in Germany (Figure 4).…”

“…This endeavour is often perceived as a financial burden; hence, most serosurveys conducted in Europe in recent years have been limited in time and scope (for a review, see [7]). In fact, only a very few countries have implemented monitoring campaigns at a national level [48][49][50][51][52][53].…”

Wild boar as the reservoir of pathogens, pathogenic for swine, other species of animals and for humans

“…W Niemczech stwierdzono od 0,4% do 16,5% seroreagentów dla chAV wśród badanych, odstrzelonych dzików. Wzdłuż granicy z Polską, po stronie niemieckiej odsetek serologicznie dodatnich dla chAV dzików sięgał 45% (7).…”

“…Obserwowany rozwój endemicznych ognisk chA u dzików, poza Polską i Niemcami miał również miejsce w innych krajach (7). W Hiszpanii u dzików wolno żyjących przeciwciała swoiste dla chAV wykazano u 0,8-60,6% badanych osobników.…”