Spread of Aujeszky’s disease among wild boars and domestic pigs in Ukraine

Abstract

Aujeszky’s disease, also known as pseudorabies is an acute infectious viral disease in a variety of mammals caused by Suid herpesvirus 1, a member of the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae and the family Herpesviridae. This virus causes significant economic losses in agriculture of numerous countries. In particular, in pig farming, the main losses are currently associated with restrictions of international trade, as well as the cost of vaccination or slaughter of infected animals. The main reservoirs species of this disease are considered to be wild boars and domestic pigs. So, in this article the authors performed a comparative retrospective analysis of the prevalence of Aujeszky’s disease among these species in Ukraine over 2009–2020 by systematizing and analyzing the epizootic data and results of serological studies. As a result of the conducted research, there is a clear trend that shows the reduction in the number of locations in Ukraine (farms, households, etc.) with domestic pigs affected by Aujeszky’s disease. Thus, in 2009 four such farms were found, and in 2018 – only one. During 2014–2016 and 2019–2020, affected farms and locations were not registered for this disease. In total, 21 such points with infected pigs were registered during the analyzed period. As for wild boars, during the analyzed 12 years, locations with animals affected by Aujeszky’s disease were registered only in 2013 and 2014 (two and one, respectively). It should be noted that all of those with infected wild boars were found in the AR Crimea. For the twelve years, the number of tested sera samples from domestic pigs amounted to 378,678 (7.4% were positive) and from wild boars – 9,052 (19.8% were positive). As a result of comparative geographical analysis of the obtained data on the detection of specific humoral antibodies to the Aujeszky’s disease virus among both species for 12 years in the regions of Ukraine, there is no established clear correlation between the spread of the disease among wild boars and domestic pigs. Thus, the highest seroprevalence rates among wild boars were observed in the northern and northeastern parts of Ukraine, and in domestic pigs, on the contrary, in the southern and central parts of this country. It should be noted, that since 2014 the number of serological tests among both species for carriers of Aujeszky’s disease has significantly decreased.