Neonatal diarrhea is one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in piglets, and it leads to significant economic losses for pig farmers worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of diagnosis, age group, and association of group A rotavirus (GARV) infection with diarrhea in piglets from pig herds in two (south and center-west)Brazilian geographical regions. The frequency of GARV diagnosis was evaluated between 2004 and 2007, using SS-PAGE on 681 fecal samples (428 diarrheic and 253 with normal consistency) from 1-4 week-old piglets. The animals were selected from 130 pig herds and 80 counties in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Mato Grosso, Brazil. None of the herds were vaccinated against porcine GARV. Rotaviruses with the typical GARV electrophoretic pattern was identified in 193 (28.3%) fecal samples, and of these, 157 (81.3%) were diarrheic (p=0.001).Porcine GARV infection was identified in animals from all age groups evaluated, and the highest infection rate (54.7%; p=0.001) occurred in diarrheic piglets between 21 and 28 days of age. Diarrheic feces from 1-7 day-old piglets also had a high rate of rotavirus presence (32.3%), suggesting a failure in passive immunity. The high rate of porcine GARV infection in all geographical regions studied demonstrates the involvement of rotavirus in the etiology of neonatal diarrhea in Brazilian pig herds. This study highlights the importance of GARV infection for pig raising and the need of control and prophylactic measures for porcine rotavirus infection, including vaccination in the main areas of pork production in Brazil.
piglet; neonatal diarrhea; group A rotavirus; SS-PAGE
