Med. Weter. 71 (2), 88-93, 2015

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Szczotka-Bochniarz A., Podgórska K
Porcine circovirus type 2 infections in pigs – current terminology, clinical syndromes and diagnostic criteria
Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) belongs to Circoviridae family, comprising smallest viral pathogens. PCV2 is involved in etiology of several diseases of swine, called “porcine circovirus associated disease” (PCVD). The most important disease in this group is postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS). Role of PCV2 in etiology of PCVD and ambiguous interpretation of laboratory results have been a matter of controversy over the years. Several interchangeably used names for clinical syndromes related to PCV2 were created and unclear diagnostics criteria hampered identification of diseases. Therefore, in 2012, new terminology of clinical syndromes related to PCV2 and standardized diagnostics rules have been proposed. Diagnosis of PCV2 systemic disease as well as other PCV2-related diseases is based on detection of the virus associated with characteristic histopathological lesions (by in situ hybridization or immunohistochemistry). Currently, 4 vaccines for PCV2 immunoprophylaxis are commercially available. PCV2b is the dominating genotype and its prevalence has also been confirmed in Poland. However, all the commercially available vaccines are based on PCV2a genotype. The latest, published in 2013 results, indicate that experimental PCV2b genotype-based vaccines are more effective and give better protection against infections with PCV2b and both PCV2b and PCV2a compared to commercially available ones.
Key words: swine, PCV2, porcine circovirus infections, diagnostics