References
Porcine circoviruses
Abstract
Porcine circoviruses have become an integral part of the pig production landscape. They are an evolving pathogen whose impact spans non-pathogenic to association with some of the most serious and far-reaching pathological conditions of pigs.
The porcine circoviruses belong in the family Circoviridae. There are two genera in this family Circovirus and Gyrovirus (chicken anaemia virus). Currently three types of porcine circoviruses have been described. The Circoviridae are non-enveloped small (12–23 nm in diameter) DNA viruses with an icosahedral symmetry (Figure 1). The single stranded DNA is arranged in a circular covalently closed loop (Zimmerman et al, 2019). The nucleotides are 1768 for porcine circovirus 1 (PCV1), about 1760 for porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) and 2000 for porcine circovirus 3 (PCV3) (Zimmerman et al, 2019). All these viruses have been recognised from the 1960s in tissue samples and are almost certainly much older. PCV2 shares about 60% sequence identity to PCV1 (Zimmerman et al, 2019). PCV3 shares 50% sequence identity to PCV1 and 2. The Circoviridae are common viruses in vertebrates. There is no known zoonotic condition associated with porcine circoviruses. The structure of circoviruses makes them very resistant viral particles; without an envelope, lipid dissolving disinfectants (used against COVID-19) are ineffective. Virus inactivation requires alkaline disinfectants, oxidising agents or quaternary ammonium compounds.
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