Monitoring results of wild boar () in The Netherlands: analyses of serological results and the first identification of biovar 2.

In Europe, wild boar populations pose an increasing risk for livestock and humans due to the transmission of animal and zoonotic infectious diseases, such as African swine fever and brucellosis. is widespread among wild boar in many European countries. In The Netherlands the prevalence of among wild boar has not been investigated so far, despite the high number of pig farms and the growing wild boar population. The Netherlands has a -free status for the livestock species. The objective of this study is to investigate the presence and distribution of in wild boars in The Netherlands and to assess the value of the different laboratory tests available for testing wild boars. A total of 2057 sera and 180 tonsils of wild boar were collected between 2010 and 2015. The sera were tested for antibodies and the tonsils were tested for spp. biovar 2 was detected by MLVA/MLST and culture in wild boar from the province of Limburg, while seropositive wild boar were obtained from the provinces of Limburg, Noord Brabant and Gelderland suggesting the northwards spread of biovar 2. In this paper, we describe the first isolation of biovar 2 in wild boar in The Netherlands.