Survey for pestiviruses in backyard pigs in southern Brazil

The Pestivirus genus comprises species that affect animal health and productivity worldwide. Members of the Suidae family are hosts for classical swine fever virus (CSFV), an important pathogen tracked by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). However, swine are also susceptible to other pestivirus species that can result in disease or compromise CSFV detection. We searched for pestivirus infection in swine sera collected from 320 backyard pig herds in southern Brazil. We used reverse-transcription PCR primers for Bungowannah virus; atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV); and a panpestivirus pair that detects bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV)-1, -2, and HoBi-like pestivirus (HoBiPeV), border disease virus (BDV), and CSFV. Two samples were positive using the panpestivirus primer pair and were classified as BVDV-1d and -2a, respectively. Serum samples were tested for virus neutralization against BVDV-1a, -1b, and -2 strains, resulting in 28 (4.4%) positive samples. Of those, 16 samples had the highest titers against BVDV-1a (2), BVDV-1b (5), and BVDV-2 (9). Our results indicate that Bungowannah virus, APPV, CSFV, BDV, and HoBiPeV have not been circulating in these specific backyard swine populations. However, ruminant pestiviruses were detected and must be considered in future pestivirus control programs conducted in Brazil.