Prevalence and viral load dynamics of PCV-2 and PCV-3 on large Hungarian swine farms

Máté, Péter and Molnár, Levente and Makkai, István and Máté, Marietta and Paszerbovics, Bettina and Swam, Hanny and Ózsvári, László (2026) Prevalence and viral load dynamics of PCV-2 and PCV-3 on large Hungarian swine farms. ACTA VETERINARIA HUNGARICA, 74 (3). pp. 273-283. ISSN 0236-6290

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Abstract

Porcine Circovirus 3 (PCV-3) was first identified in 2016 and has since been detected in swine herds worldwide. The aim of this study was to survey the prevalence of PCV-2 and PCV-3 in large Hungarian swine herds. Between July 2020 and April 2022, a total of 1,408 blood samples were collected from 18 large herds and pooled sampling was applied by combining equal amounts from five individuals per pool. PCV-3 positive samples were detected in 94.4% (17/18) of the farms, with an overall apparent prevalence of 30.4% (89/293) in the tested pools. PCV-2 was found in 50.0% (9/18) of the farms, with 14.7% (43/293) of pools testing positive. After correction for imperfect PCR sensitivity and specificity (assumed to be 95%), the corrected prevalence of PCV-3 was 28.2% (83/293) and 10.7% (32/293) for PCV-2, farm-level prevalence estimates remained unchanged. Quantitative PCR analysis revealed that 24.2% of the PCV-3-positive pools had low (Cq > 30), 5.8% medium (28 < Cq < 30) and 1.0% high viral loads (Cq < 28). These results confirm that PCV-3 is widely present in large Hungarian swine farms. The relatively high prevalence, viral load and frequent co-infections raise the possibility of subclinical infections, although the clinical significance of PCV-3 requires further investigation.

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