Transmissible Gastroenteritis of Swine is a highly contagious infectious disease that primarily affects young pigs, caused by the Porcine Infectious Gastroenteritis Virus (TGEV). The virus belongs to the Coronaviridae family, genus Alphacoronavirus, and is associated with outbreaks of high morbidity and mortality, especially in neonatal piglets.
TGEV has tropism for the intestinal epithelium, where it causes destruction of intestinal villi, resulting in severe impairment of nutrient absorption. Clinical signs include profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, rapid dehydration, anorexia, and weight loss. In piglets a few days old, mortality can reach high levels, causing severe economic losses.
Virus transmission occurs primarily through the fecal-oral route, through direct contact between infected and susceptible animals, as well as indirectly through contaminated fomites such as clothing, footwear, equipment, vehicles, and facilities. The introduction of infected animals into disease-free herds represents one of the main risk factors for disease spread.
The impacts of Transmissible Gastroenteritis of Swine include high mortality rates in piglets, reduced zootechnical performance, increased sanitary management costs, and significant economic losses for swine production, especially in intensive production systems.
Prevention and control of TGEV infection are based on rigorous implementation of biosecurity measures, control of movement of people, animals, and vehicles, proper hygiene and disinfection of facilities, and constant health monitoring of herds.
Epidemiological surveillance plays a fundamental role in early disease detection. The use of laboratory methods for identification of the etiological agent, combined with rapid containment actions, is essential to reduce virus spread and minimize health and economic impacts on swine production.
In this scenario, the rapid test for Transmissible Gastroenteritis of Swine (TGEV) from Bioperfectus represents an important screening tool to support health surveillance. Its application enables rapid detection of suspect animals directly in the field, especially on farms with occurrence of neonatal diarrhea, allowing immediate adoption of containment measures such as batch isolation, biosecurity reinforcement, and notification to veterinary services. Thus, the rapid test acts in a complementary manner to confirmatory laboratory methods, contributing to early identification of outbreaks, reduction of TGEV spread, and mitigation of economic impacts on swine production.
