Comparison of the pathogenic, antigenic and molecular characteristics of two encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) isolates from Belgium and Greece

The pathogenicity of two porcine encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) isolates for sows in gestation and young piglets was studied. One virus originated from a case of reproductive failure in pigs in Belgium and the other from a case of acute myocarditis in pigs in Greece. Sows in the mid-gestation period and one- to two-month old piglets were inoculated with each isolate. The molecular relationship between both isolates was studied by determining the nucleotide sequence located across the junction of the 1C and 1D capsid-coding genes. Antigenic analysis was performed using a panel of 35 monoclonal antibodies raised against an Italian field isolate of EMCV. All three approaches revealed differences between both isolates and also confirmed that there was no link between the two outbreaks of disease.