A Systematic Review: Is Porcine Kobuvirus Causing Gastrointestinal Disease in Young Pigs?

Since porcine kobuvirus (PKV) was first described in 2008, researchers have speculated whether the virus is of clinical importance. This systematic literature review answers the question: Is porcine kobuvirus a cause of gastrointestinal disease in young pigs? A case-control study showed that PKV was not associated with neonatal diarrhea. A cohort study suffered from a very small sample size (n = 5), and in an experimental trial, the effect of PKV inoculation could not be separated from the effect of being inoculated with porcine epidemic diarrhea virus. In 13 poorly defined observational studies, more than 4000 young pigs had been assigned a diarrhea status and their feces analyzed for PKV. Unfortunately, the studies lacked well-characterized unbiased samples, and thus the strongest possible inference from these studies was that a very strong association between PKV and diarrhea is unlikely. PKV was commonly detected in non-diarrheic pigs, and this could indicate that PKV is not a sufficient cause in itself or that reinfection of individuals with some immunological protection due to previous infections is common. Conclusively, there is a lack of good evidence of PKV being a cause of gastrointestinal disease, but the sparse available evidence suggests that PKV is of limited clinical importance.