DETECTION OF THE PORCINE REPRODUCTIVE AND RESPIRATORY SYNDROME VIRUS IN A ROMANIAN PIG-FATTENING FARM

PRRS is one of the most burdensome morbid entities facing a pig-fattening farms. Although reported in few countries since the 1980s, now days PRRS virus/ disease have now been declared worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to assess the presence of the porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome virus (PRRSV) in a pig fattening with respiratory disease history, of undetermined aetiology, by using molecular biology diagnostic methods and whole blood samples. The samples were collected from 14 pigs, randomly chosen, belonging to recently purchased piggy and growing pigs. Detection of PRRSV was done by a conventional PCR method. The RNA extraction was performed using a commercial kit (QIA amp cador Pathogen Mini Kit, Qiagen), as prescribed by the manufacturer. The reaction mixture required by classical PCR technique was the one provided by the commercial kit "OneStep RT-PCR" (Qiagen). In the herd under investigation, swine proved to be infected with PRRSV. The results obtained are complying with the respiratory disease manifested in the farm, where 64.29% samples were tested positive for PRRSV specific amplicon. In the pigs tested the frequency of the positive samples was found to be higher in the growing pigs (>60 days old).