Vesicular exanthema of swine virus
| Vesicular exanthema of swine virus | |
|---|---|
| Virus classification | |
| Group: | Group IV ((+)ssRNA) |
| Family: | Caliciviridae |
| Genus: | Vesivirus |
| Species: | Vesicular exanthema of swine virus |
| Synonyms | |
|
Swine vesicular exanthema virus |
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Swine vesicular exanthema virus
Vesicular exanthema of swine virus, serotype A
Vesicular exanthema of swine virus (VESV) is a virus different from those causing Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) and Swine Vesicular Disease (SVD) but it produces a disease in pigs that is clinically indistinguishable from FMD and SVD. Unlike FMD it only affects pigs.
Currently, VESV is only a concern among Californian pig-farmers, otherwise, the disease is now, by and large, a historical curiosity. It was globally eradicated in swine in 1959.
Viruses that are virtually identical to VESV virus are present in marine mammals and fish along the Pacific coast of the USA. These viruses are sometimes called San Miguel Sea Lion Virus. It is therefore assumed that the source of VESV was waste sea food fed to pigs or as garbage finding its way to pigs from farmed-mink fed seafood.
VESV was first diagnosed in pigs in Southern California in 1932. Because of its close similarity to FMD all the pigs were destroyed. It kept reappearing in California from time to time, the pigs being slaughtered each time. Then in 1952 the virus escaped from California in a train-load of infected pork. Garbage fed pig herds came down with the disease and it spread from them to neighbouring herds until herds in 43 states were affected. It was eventually stamped out in 1956 by a major slaughter policy combined with a ban on feeding uncooked garbage to pigs. It was declared an exotic disease in the USA in 1959
The only cases outside the USA were in slaughter pigs on ships from the USA bound for Hawaii in 1947 and in pigs fed uncooked pork scraps from an American military base in Iceland in 1955.
The source of the virus remained a mystery until 1972 when an essentially similar virus the San Miguel Sea Lion Virus (SMSV) was isolated from San Miguel Island sea lions. When inoculated experimentally into pigs it caused typical signs of VESV.
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