Evaluation of the transmission by back pond pen of bovine viral diarrhea virus in experimentally infected weed pigs

Pestiviruses have significant importance in swine breeding, and pigs can be infected by Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) under natural conditions. The present study aimed to induce the experimental infection of BVDV-1 in weaned piglets and to evaluate the excretion and possible transmission of the virus through the water and naso-nasal routes. Two experiments and one replicate were conducted for each evaluated route of transmission. In total, 24 piglets were selected, and six were used per experiment, divided into control (n = 2), sentinel (n = 2) and infected (n = 2) groups using isolators, designed to establish contact between animals only by Route of study. The infected group received an inoculum containing BVDV-1, Singer strain, while the control and sentinel groups were inoculated with E-MEM medium. The animals remained in the isolators for 25 days, during which samples of nasal swab and blood were collected every seven days. At the end, the animals were euthanized and necropsied, and organ fragments were collected for histopathology, immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. When the water-borne transmission pathway was evaluated, only one infected animal showed excretion of genomic material from day 6 post-infection (dpi), and one sentinel animal showed excretion at the 20th dpi. In these animals, seroconversion occurred on day 25 with an antibody titer equal to 20. An infected animal did not present seroconversion during the sampled period, but there was excretion from the 5th dpi. In the repeat of the experiment, only one infected animal was seroconverted at day 25, with antibody titer of 20, whose excretion of the genomic material was detected at 21o dpi. In sentinel animals, only one had excretion at the 13th dpi. In relation to the naso-nasal experiment, the infected animals presented excretion of genetic material from the 17th dpi, but seroconversion was not observed in all the animals. In the repetition of the nasonasal experiment, seroconversion was detected in only one of the infected piglets on the last day of the experiment, with an antibody titre of 20. Excretion of the genomic material occurred in the two infected animals, and one animal had excretion from the Day 10 and the other from the 18th dpi. Regarding macroscopy and microscopy, the animals of all experiments did not present significant lesions. The present study demonstrates that pigs are susceptible to BVDV, allowing excretion and serve as a source of infection. It has been shown that the water table can transport BVDV from one infected pig to another, emphasizing the importance and risk of transmission. The possibility of BVDV transmission by the nasal nasal route in piglets has not been proven within the evaluated period. (AU)