Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Onderstepoort, Pretoria 0110, South Africa.
Department of Zoology and Entomology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028, South Africa.
Viruses. 2023 Feb 16;15(2):545. doi: 10.3390/v15020545.
Rift valley fever (RVF), caused by the RVF virus (RVFV), is a vector-borne zoonotic disease that primarily affects domestic ruminants. Abortion storms and neonatal deaths characterise the disease in animals. Humans develop flu-like symptoms, which can progress to severe disease. The susceptibility of domestic pigs () to RVFV remains unresolved due to conflicting experimental infection results. To address this, we infected two groups of pregnant sows, neonates and weaners, each with a different RVFV isolate, and a third group of weaners with a mixture of the two viruses. Serum, blood and oral, nasal and rectal swabs were collected periodically, and two neonates and a weaner from group 1 and 2 euthanised from 2 days post infection (DPI), with necropsy and histopathology specimens collected. Sera and organ pools, blood and oronasorectal swabs were tested for RVFV antibodies and RNA. Results confirmed that pigs can be experimentally infected with RVFV, although subclinically, and that pregnant sows can abort following infection. Presence of viral RNA in oronasorectal swab pools on 28 DPI suggest that pigs may shed RVFV for at least one month. It is concluded that precautions should be applied when handling pig body fluids and carcasses during RVF outbreaks.
裂谷热（RVF）由裂谷热病毒（RVFV）引起，是一种主要影响家畜反刍动物的虫媒传染病。该病在动物中表现为流产风暴和新生儿死亡。人类会出现流感样症状，病情可能会恶化。由于实验感染结果相互矛盾，猪对 RVFV 的易感性仍未得到解决。为了解决这个问题，我们用两种不同的 RVFV 分离株感染了两组怀孕母猪、仔猪和断奶仔猪，第三组断奶仔猪则同时感染了两种病毒。定期采集血清、血液和口腔、鼻腔及直肠拭子，从感染后第 2 天（DPI）起，对第 1 组和第 2 组的两只仔猪和一只断奶仔猪进行安乐死，采集尸检和组织病理学标本。对血清和器官池、血液和口鼻直肠拭子进行 RVFV 抗体和 RNA 检测。结果证实，猪可以通过实验感染 RVFV，但呈亚临床感染，感染后的怀孕母猪可能会流产。在 28 DPI 的口鼻直肠拭子中检测到病毒 RNA，提示猪可能会在至少一个月内排出 RVFV。因此，在 RVF 暴发期间，处理猪体液和尸体时应采取预防措施。
