Hog cholera

Classical swine fever
Virus classification
Group:	Group IV ((+)ssRNA)
Family:	Flaviviridae
Genus:	Pestivirus
Species:	Classical swine fever virus

Classical swine fever (CSF) or hog cholera (also sometimes called pig plague based on the German word Schweinepest) is a highly contagious disease of swine (Old World and New World pigs).

Swine fever causes fever, skin lesions, convulsions, and usually (particularly in young animals) death within 15 days.

The signs are indistinguishable from those of African swine fever.

A small fraction of the infected pigs may survive and are rendered immune. Artificial immunization procedures were first developed by Marion Dorset.

The disease is endemic in much of Asia, Central and South America, and parts of Europe and Africa. It was believed to have been eradicated in the United Kingdom by 1966 (according to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), but an outbreak occurred in East Anglia in 2000. It was eradicated in the United States by 1978, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Other regions believed free of CSF include Australia, Canada (1962), Ireland, New Zealand, and Scandinavia.

The infectious agent responsible is a virus CSFV (previously called hog cholera virus) of the genus Pestivirus in the family Flaviviridae. CSFV is closely related to the ruminant pestiviruses that cause bovine viral diarrhoea and border disease.

The effect of different CSFV strains varies widely, leading to a wide range of clinical signs. Highly virulent strains correlate with acute, obvious disease and high mortality, including neurological signs and hemorrhages within the skin.

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Wikipedia