Long-Term Surveillance of Aujeszky's Disease in the Alpine Wild Boar (Sus scrofa)

Ecohealth. 2015 Dec;12(4):563-70. doi: 10.1007/s10393-015-1064-x. Epub 2015 Sep 21.

Abstract

Although wild boar can act as a persistent Aujeszky's disease (AD) reservoir, limited data are available on long-term epidemiology in free-ranging wild boar living in areas where industrial swine herds are limited. Hence, this study provides crucial information, which fills this knowledge gap, on the natural dynamics of AD infection. From 3260 sera sampled during eight hunting seasons, 162 (4.97%) were tested positive. Factors, including the animal's age class, and the sampling year, had significant effects on the probability of the wild boar being seropositive, while wild boar mean abundance per area, yearly abundance and the total number of pig farms, as well as interactions among age, year and sex, were not significant. In particular, a positive trend of seroprevalence was observed over the years, with values ranging from 2.1 to 10.8%. This long-term surveillance showed an increase in seroprevalence with a higher probability of being seropositive in older individuals and the independence of wild boar seropositivity from the likelihood of contact with pigs in the area.

Keywords: Aujeszky’s disease; Pig farms; risk factors; serology; surveillance; wild boar.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Animals
  • Animals, Wild / virology*
  • Antibodies, Viral / blood*
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / veterinary
  • Epidemiological Monitoring / veterinary
  • Female
  • Herpesvirus 1, Suid / isolation & purification*
  • Humans
  • Italy / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Pseudorabies / epidemiology*
  • Seroepidemiologic Studies
  • Sex Factors
  • Sus scrofa / virology*
  • Swine / virology*
  • Swine Diseases / epidemiology*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Viral