Pathogenicity and kinetics of virus propagation in swine infected with the cytopathogenic classical swine fever virus containing defective interfering particles

To analyze the pathogenicity and in vivo kinetics of the cytopathogenic (cp) classical swine fever virus (CSFV) WB82 strain, which is composed of cp defective interfering (DI) particles and noncytopathogenic (noncp) helper virus (WB82/E+ strain), WB82 and WB82/E+ strains were administered separately to domestic pigs. After inoculation with either strain, all pigs showed typical symptoms of classical swine fever (CSF), such as leucopenia and high fever. There were few differences in clinical signs and survival times between each group. However, the appearance of some symptoms of CSF had a tendency to be delayed following infection with the WB82 strain, when compared with the WB82/E+ strain. Virus isolation and detection of subgenomic (sg) and full-length viral (flv) RNA by RT-PCR was carried out using sera, 10% homogenized organs and oral, nasal and rectal swabs. Both noncytopathogenic helper virus and cp DI particles were detected in samples from pigs infected with the WB82 strain, but only noncp phenotype virus was isolated from pigs infected with the WB82/E+ strain. Interestingly, the cp DI particles appeared six to seven days later than helper virus in sera from pigs infected with the WB82 strain. Although active cp DI particles could not be isolated from swabs, sg RNA as well as flv RNA was detected in swabs from animals infected with the WB82 strain. These results suggest that progeny cp DI particles are replicated from parent DI particles after noncp virus replication, and subsequently discharged from infected animals. Furthermore, propagation of DI particles or replication of sg RNA, following propagation of helper virus, appears to inhibit the appearance of CSF symptoms induced by virulent helper CSFV.