Characterization of Porcine astrovirus 2 in an enteric episode in piglets in Italy by metagenomic analysis

Porcine Astroviruses (PoAstV) detected in the gastroenteric tract of healthy and diseased pigs. PoAstVs have been detected in several countries worldwide. Their role in causing enteric clinical syndromes in pigs and other animals, is not yet elucidated. In the present report, we describe the identification and genetic characterization, trough whole genome sequencing, of a PoAstV2 in diarrheic pigs in North East Italy in 2015. This is the first detection of PoAstV2 in pigs from the European continent. The phylogenetic analysis of complete ORF2 segment highlighted the high similarity of this virus with those circulating in the same year in Japan.