Widespread detection and characterization of porcine parainfluenza virus 1 in pigs in the USA

Porcine parainfluenza virus 1 (PPIV1) was first identified in 2013 in slaughterhouse pigs in Hong Kong, China. Here, two near-complete genomes were assembled from swine exhibiting acute respiratory disease that were 90.0-95.3 % identical to Chinese PPIV1. Analysis of the HN gene from ten additional PPIV1-positive samples found 85.0-95.5 % identity, suggesting genetic diversity between strains. Molecular analysis identified 17 out of 279 (6.1 %) positive samples from pigs with respiratory disease. Eleven nursery pigs from a naturally infected herd were asymptomatic; however, nasal swabs from six pigs and the lungs of a single pig were quantitative reverse transcriptase (qRT)-PCR positive. Histopathology identified PPIV1 RNA in the nasal respiratory epithelium and trachea. Two serological assays demonstrated seroconversion of infected pigs and further analysis of 59 swine serum samples found 52.5 % and 66.1 % seropositivity, respectively. Taken together, the results confirm the widespread presence of PPIV1 in the US swine herd.