Exogenous porcine viruses

Porcine organs, cells and tissues provide a viable source of transplants in humans, though there is some concern of public health risk from adaptation of swine infectious agents in humans. Limited information is available on the public health risk of many exogenous swine viruses, and reliable and rapid diagnostic tests are available for only a few of these. The ability of several porcine viruses to cause transplacental fetal infection (parvoviruses, circoviruses, and arteriviruses), emergence or recognition of several new porcine viruses during the last two decades (porcine circovirus, arterivirus, paramyxoviruses, herpesviruses, and porcine respiratory coronavirus) and the immunosuppressed state of the transplant recipients increases the xenozoonoses risk of humans to porcine viruses through transplantation. Much of this risk can be eliminated with vigilance and sustained monitoring along with a better understanding of pathogenesis and development of better diagnostic tests. In this review we present information on selected exogenous viruses, highlighting their characteristics, pathogenesis of viral infections in swine, methods for their detection, and the potential xenozoonoses risk they present. Emphasis has been given in this review to swine influenza virus, paramyxovirus (Nipah virus, Menagle virus, LaPiedad paramyxovirus, porcine paramyxovirus), arterivirus (porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus) and circovirus as either they represent new swine viruses or present the greatest risk. We have also presented information on porcine parvovirus, Japanese encephalitis virus, encephalomyocarditis virus, herpesviruses (pseudorabies virus, porcine lymphotropic herpesvirus, porcine cytomegalovirus), coronaviruses (TGEV, PRCV, HEV, PEDV) and adenovirus. The potential of swine viruses to infect humans needs to be assessed in vitro and in vivo and rapid and more reliable diagnostic methods need to be developed to assure safe supply of porcine tissues and cells for xenotransplantation.