Association between rotavirus and the presence of diarrhea in piglets from intensive pig farms

The objective of the study was to determine the frequency of rotavirus and its association with the occurrence of diarrhea in piglets reared in two intensive pig farms in Lima valley, Peru. The presence of rotavirus was determined by the identification of the viral genome using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) in diarrheic (n=69) and non-diarrheic (n=73) fecal samples from 1 to 4 week-old piglets. The case-control epidemiological design was used to establish the association between the occurrence of diarrhea and the presence of rotavirus in feces, using a multiple logistic regression (type of feces, age, and origin). The frequency of porcine rotavirus group A in diarrheic stool samples from pig farm 1 was 41.4% (12/29) and from pig farm 2 was 16.6% (4/24), and one positive was found in non diarrheic stool from each pig farm. The presence of porcine rotavirus versus occurrence of diarrhea, adjusted to potential confusing variables (age and origin) resulted in an Odds Ratio of 12.6 with a confidence interval between 2.7 and 59.3%. Additionally, two segments of RNA from the genome of porcine Picobirnavirus were found. It is concluded that the presence of porcine rotavirus represents a risk factor for the presentation of diarrhea in newborn piglets from intensive pig farms in Lima.