Genogroup I and II Picobirnaviruses in Respiratory Tracts of Pigs

Saskia L. Smits

, Leo L.M. Poon, Marije van Leeuwen, Pui-Ngan Lau, Harsha K.K. Perera, Joseph S. Malik Peiris, James Simon, and Albert D.M.E. Osterhaus

Author affiliations: Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (S.L. Smits, A.D.M.E. Osterhaus); The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China (L.L.M. Poon, P.-N. Lau, H.K.K. Perera, J.S. Malik Peiris); Viroclinics Biosciences BV, Rotterdam (S.L. Smits, M. van Leeuwen, J.H. Simon, A.D.M.E. Osterhaus); University of Kelaniya, Kelaniya, Sri Lanka (H.K.K. Perera)

Abstract

Sequence-independent amplification and specific reverse transcription PCRs identified genogroup I and II picobirnaviruses in respiratory tracts of pigs. These data expand knowledge of picobirnavirus diversity and tropism. Genetic relationships between porcine respiratory and human enteric picobirnaviruses suggest cross-species transmission of picobirnaviruses between pigs and humans.

A thorough understanding of virus diversity in animals provides epidemiologic baseline information about potential pathogens and can lead to identification of emerging human pathogens. On the basis of relevance to reemerging viruses, such as Nipah virus and influenza A virus, pigs are a key risk host for emerging RNA virus–associated disease in humans in different areas (1–3). In an effort to identify unknown porcine viruses in the respiratory tracts of pigs, we performed sequence-independent amplification on partially purified viral nucleic acid from swab samples of respiratory tracts from pigs that were PCR negative for influenza A virus (4–6).

Suggested citation for this article: Smits SL, Poon LLM, van Leeuwen M, Lau P-N, Perera HKK, Malik Peiris JS, et al. Genogroup I and II picobirnaviruses in respiratory tracts of pigs. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2011 Dec [date cited]. http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1712.110934