Studies of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus infection in avian species

Abstract

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is a recently recognized virus of swine. As a newly emerging virus, much of the basic information regarding PRRSV is in the process of discovery. We report three experiments with PRRSV in birds, and a fourth experiment to evaluate the infectivity and transmissibility of avian-derived PRRSV in swine. Experiment 1 compared the susceptibility of Muscovy ducks, Mallard ducks, guinea fowl, and chickens to PRRSV. Birds were exposed to PRRSV (ATCC VR-2402) in drinking water and virus isolation was attempted from feces collected from cages. Based on the duration of fecal shedding of the virus, this experiment showed that Mallard ducks were particularly susceptible to PRRSV. Experiment 2 was done in mallards to corroborate and augment the observations of experiment 1. Virus was isolated from pooled mallard feces up to 25 days post exposure (PE) and from the intestinal contents of 8 of 20 birds euthanized on day 38 PE. No gross or microscopic lesions were observed in ducks collected between 0 and 15 days PE. Experiment 3 evaluated the infectivity and transmissibility of mallard-derived PRRSV in mallards. A cage of mallards orally exposed to PRRSV shed the virus in feces. Exposure of a second cage of mallards to feces from the first cage resulted in fecal shedding of PRRSV by birds in cage two. In turn, exposure to feces from the second cage led to fecal shedding by mallards in a third cage. Experiment 4 assessed the infectivity and transmissibility of mallard-derived virus in swine. Pigs intranasally exposed to PRRSV isolated from mallard feces in experiment 2 became viremic, seroconverted by ELISA, and transmitted the virus to sentinel swine. Collectively, these studies show that the possibility exists for avian species to be involved in the epidemiology of PRRSV. This is the first report of PRRSV infection in a species other than swine.