Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea in Europe: In-Detail Analyses of Disease Dynamics and Molecular Epidemiology. Porcine epidemic diarrhea in Europe

Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is an acute and highly contagious enteric disease of swine caused by the eponymous virus (PEDV) which belongs to the genus Alphacoronavirus within the Coronaviridae virus family. Following the disastrous outbreaks in Asia and the US, PEDV has been detected also in Europe. To elucidate disease dynamics and virus evolution in Central Europe, samples from swine feces were collected from different PED outbreaks and sequenced by shot-gun next-generation sequencing. When compared on a global scale, all investigated sequences from Central and South-Eastern Europe formed a rather homogeneous PEDV S INDEL cluster. However, in-detail analyses revealed two new clusters and putative ancestor strains. Additionally, the impact of secondary infections was explored using metagenomic data sets.