J. Zimmerman et al., INFLUENCE OF DOSE AND ROUTE ON TRANSMISSION OF ENCEPHALOMYOCARDITIS VIRUS TO SWINE, Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation, 5(3), 1993, pp. 317-321
The susceptibility of swine to infection with encephalomyocarditis vir
us (EMCV) was assessed. Transmission of EMCV in a single exposure by g
avage or intranasal routes was highly dose dependent. In a direct comp
arison, animals were exposed to EMCV by gavage, intranasal, intramuscu
lar, intratracheal, or transdermal routes. A higher proportion of anim
als exposed by transdermal (5/5), intratracheal (5/5), or intramuscula
r (5/5) routes than those exposed by intranasal (2/5) or gavage (3/5)
routes became infected. The large quantity of virus required to infect
animals intranasally or orally suggests that transmission by these ro
utes may not occur routinely in the field. Transmission of EMCV by wou
nd contamination (transdermally) has not been reported previously. Alt
hough EMCV was recovered from rectal, external genitalia, and pharynge
al swabs, there was no evidence of pig-to-pig transmission of EMCV fro
m experimentally infected animals to comingled sentinels.