Identification of porcine circovirus-3 in Mozambique

Porcine circovirus 3 (PCV-3) has been associated with an assortment of clinical conditions in pigs and has been reported in many countries worldwide. In Africa there is no data on the presence of PCV-3. In this study, DNA samples collected from 91 pigs between 2011 and 2019 in nine of the ten provinces of Mozambique in the context of African swine fever (ASF) monitoring were further screened for the presence of PCV-3. Of these samples, 7 (7.5%) animals were positive for PCV-3. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis of the capsid protein gene (ORF2) of the PCV-3s provided evidence of epidemiological links with PCV-3s identified in North and South America, Asia, and Europe. This is the first identification of PCV-3 in Mozambique (and Africa) and the first evidence of co-infection of PCV-3 and ASF virus. It should provide a starting point for further investigations into the presence and impact of PCV-3 in Africa.