ISOLATION AND CHARACTERISATION OF PORCINE EPIDEMIC DIARRHOEA VIRUS IN HUNGARY - SHORT COMMUNICATION

Porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) is an emerging enteropathogen, causing great economic losses in the pig industry. After many years of quiescence, PEDV was detected in Hungary in 2016 with a recombination in its S gene. In order to determine the extent of this change, an attempt was made to isolate the recombinant PEDV. This study was extended with a variety of samples collected from three separate farms with newly identified PEDV in 2018. The recombinant PEDV from 2016 was isolated successfully along with three viruses from 2018, and one isolate from the new cases was used for whole genome determination. Whole genome sequence alignment revealed the highest identity with recombinant Hungarian and Slovenian PEDV within the low-pathogenic European viruses. This suggests that these recombinant PEDV are circulating in this area and may spread to other parts of the continent.