PRRSV-1 outbreak in a farrowing farm caused by a vaccine derived strain: a case report

The benefits of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) modified live virus vaccines (MLV) have been largely proven, however, the safety of these vaccines is questioned since vaccine strains can revert to virulence due to random mutations or recombination events. Reversion to virulence has been previously described for PRRSV-2 MLVs and recently for PRRSV-1 MLV after recombination. This case report describes the introduction of a PRRSV-1 strain derived from a MLV associated with an outbreak of reproductive disorder in a 1000-sow farrow-to-wean farm in France.

In January 2023, unusual fever and lethargy in sows, and premature farrowings were reported in a farm that was regularly controlled as PRRS stable, through mass vaccination of the sows. PRRSV-1 was detected by PCR in sows and suckling piglet samples. Sequencing of ORF5, ORF7, and whole genome (WGS) was performed. Time-to-baseline production and total production losses were calculated using statistical process control methods. ORF5 and ORF7 nucleotide sequences indicated that the strain isolated from the clinical samples was differentiable from the DV MLV strain used in the farm (94.1% and 95.9% respectively) but closely related to the VP-046 Bis MLV strain which was never used (99.0% and 99.2% respectively). WGS of the farm PRRSV strain confirmed the high nucleotide identity percentage with the VP-046 Bis MLV strain (98.6%) over the entire genome and no recombination events was detected with MLV strains authorized in France. After different investigations aiming to identify the source of contamination, we were able to detect a closely related strain (99.46% of identity with the case farm strain across the entire genome) in a wean-to-finish farm located 400 m further. It took 17 batches (34 weeks) to recover the baseline production of piglets after implementation of a PRRSV stabilization protocol, which represented a total loss of 812 weaned piglets.

This is the first case report of a PRRSV-1 MLV which might have reverted to virulence in France and has caused substantial economic losses.