COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON THE RECENT KNOWLE DGE OF PORCINE REPRODUCTIVEAND RESPIRATORY SYNDROME (PRRS)

A comprehensive review has been given on the recent scientific results (causative agent, pathogenesis, epizootiology, diagnosis, clinical sy mptoms, control) of PRRS, a diseases endangering also the Hungarian pi g population. Clinical features and economical losses have been detail ed in Tables which characterized the PRRS infections observed by Danis h SPF farms with mild clinical symptoms. Of the symptoms observed by t he Danish farmers, agalactia (64%) and drastic increase of the number of stillbirths (56%) were the most characteristics at the beginning of the infection on the 40 SPF farms investigated (Table 1). Table 2 giv es information about the number of piglets born alive and dead pro lit ter, as well as about the number of losses observed on Danish SPF farm s. Losses in finishing units originated mainly from the decrease of da ily weight gain (26 g/day) and from the increased feed conversion (0.4 FEs/kg, Table 3). Production indices of the infected farms reached th e original levels 26 weeks after the outbreaks, on an average. The rev iew has been based on the information of the lectures held on the Expe rt Course organized by the Federation of Danish Pig Producers and Slau ghterhouses and 2nd International Symposium on PRRS (Copenhagen, 1995) . Hungary is still free of the diseases at the time of receiving the a rticle (January, 1996). PRRS is a reportable disease since 1996.