3.1. Molecular detection confirms the presence of PDCoV genome
in intestinal samples of pigs suffering from an enteric disease outbreak
in Peru
We took advantage of a widely used qRT-PCR assay that allows accurate
differentiation of most common enteric coronaviruses in swine such as
PEDV, TGEV and PDCoV. qRT-PCR results confirmed the presence of PDCoV
RNA in all (n=3) samples analysed, which turned out to be negative to
PEDV and TGEV. In addition to its qualitative feature, this assay allows
relative quantification. Thus, the viral load was quantified through the
amount of genetic target of PDCoV amplified during the process. Samples
had low Ct values to PDCoV (Ct = 9-14) which indicated a high PDCoV
viral load. From these results, we inferred that PDCoV was involved in
the enteric disease with high viral titers.