Infection by Porcine Circovirus Type 2 and Type 3 in pleurisy lesions in slaughtered pigs

• Grant number: 24/01391-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: June 01, 2024
• End date: November 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Clinics and Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Luís Guilherme de Oliveira
• Grantee: Eduarda Ribeiro Braga
• Supervisor: Pablo Pineyro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Iowa State University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/01748-0 - Porcine Circovirus type 2 and type 3 infection in pleurisy lesions in pigs at slaughter, BP.MS

Abstract

Among the main lesions found during the inspection of pig carcasses, pleurisy stands out, which can be caused by various infectious agents and lead to partial or total condemnations. The aim of this study is to detect PCV-2 and PCV-3, potential pathogens involved in pleurisy lesions in pig slaughter. For this purpose, 130 animals were conveniently selected from a slaughterhouse in São Paulo state, with a constant slaughter flow, coming from different commercial pig farms. The lungs were classified according to the degree of pulmonary consolidation to perform the Pneumonia Index for the lots. Pleurisy lesions were categorized into 5 groups according to their severity (G1= control; G2=grade 1; G3=grade 2; G4=grade 3, and G5=grade 4), where 26 lung fragments were collected for each group, in association with fragments of the parietal pleura from carcasses with pleurisy. Subsequently, quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) was conducted to identify PCV-2 and PCV-3. From the samples positive for PCV-2, the genotypes of Porcine Circovirus Type 2 (a-h) will be discriminated through sequencing, or similar methods. The normality of the variables will be checked by the Shapiro-Wilkins test. If normality is present, analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be applied, and the simple T-test will be used for comparison between groups. If there is no normality, non-parametric tests (Wilcoxon) will be used.