Introduction Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is a small, nonenveloped, circular, single stranded DNA virus. By phylogenetic analysis PCV2 can be further divided into two main genotypes, PCV2a and PCV2b, both distributed worldwide. Despite the fact that PCV2 is now being regarded as an important swine pathogen, information on its interaction with oocytes and embryos (1, 2) should be further inv...

W ith nearly two-thirds of the population afflicted, the Nuu-chah-nulth Indians of Vancouver Island in British Columbia have one of the highest rates of arthritis in the world. Often passed down family lines, the genetics of arthritis in this unique population was studied extensively during the 1980s by Richard Ward, now head of the Institute of Biological Anthropology at the University of Oxfo...

In 2012, a mutant porcine circovirus type 2 (mPCV2) strain was identified in cases of PCV-associated disease (PCVAD) in the USA. The mPCV2 had an additional amino acid, lysine (K), in the capsid at position 234. The objectives of this study were to compare the pathogenicity of mPCV2, PCV2a and PCV2b in pigs using biologically pure infectious virus stocks derived from respective infectious DNA c...

We introduce an approach to revealing the likelihood of different population histories that utilizes an explicit model of sequence evolution for the DNA segment under study. Based on a phylogenetic tree reconstruction method we show that a Tamura-Nei model with heterogeneous mutation rates is a fair description of the evolutionary process of the hypervariable region I of the mitochondrial DNA f...

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is one of the economically most important pathogens for swine production worldwide. Vaccination is a powerful tool to control porcine circovirus diseases (PCVD). However, it is not fully understood how PCV2 vaccination interacts with the porcine immune system. Especially knowledge on the cellular immune response against PCV2 is sparse. In this study we analysed ...

BACKGROUND Pentavalent rotavirus vaccine (RV5) was recommended for routine use in 2006 followed by monovalent rotavirus vaccine (RV1) in 2008. PURPOSE To describe, among a U.S. sample of pediatricians (n=289 respondents) and family medicine physicians (n=243 respondents), (1) current practices regarding rotavirus vaccine (RV) and barriers to use with comparison to a 2007 survey and (2) knowle...

Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) has and is still causing important economic losses to pig industry. This is due to PCV2-systemic disease (PCV2-SD), formerly known as postweaning multi-systemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), which increases mortality rates and slows down the growth of the animals, as well as other conditions collectively included within the so-called porcine circovirus diseases (PCVD). PC...

Porcine circovirus type 1 (PCV1) and type 2 (PCV2) are two genotypes of porcine circovirus. Both of them are presumed to be widespread in the swine population. Currently, there is no specific treatment for their infections. RNA interference (RNAi) is a sequence-specific RNA degradation mechanism mediated by small interfering RNA (siRNA), which represents a possible therapeutic application for t...

The objective of this study was to characterize the clinical, histopathological, and virological features of an outbreak of severe porcine circovirus associated disease (PCVAD) on four farms located in the same geographical region of Kansas. The outbreak of PCVAD was evident by increased mortality and the appearance of postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome, porcine dermatitis and nephropat...