PCR-Based baseline survey indicates widespread prevalence of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) in India

The porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is an economically important disease in all ages of pigs all over the world. India was free from PRRS until the first outbreak reported in the year 2013 from North East India. Since then, the disease outbreaks have been reported regularly from North East India, but status of the disease in rest of India is still largely unknown. Keeping this in mind, the study was undertaken to generate baseline information about the status of PRRS in India. To this end, 270 pig tissue samples from different parts of the country collected during 2015–2017 were screened for the presence of PRRSV RNA using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Of the 270 samples that were collected and received (2015–2017) from Mizoram, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Goa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Andra Pradesh and Maharashtra, 54 were positive for PRRSV RNA. This shows that the disease is gradually spreading across the country.