The "colorful" epidemiology of PRRS

The paper describes the specifics of the epidemiology of the Porcine Reprod uctive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), that is its "behavior" as a communi cable disease in porcine populations, and compares them to the general epid emiological characteristics of communicable diseases. This analysis shows t hat infection with the PRRS virus "behaves" epidemiologically both as an ep idemic and as an endemic disease: on the one hand it can spread like an epi demic in naive populations, and on the other it seems to linger on infinite ly in an affected population with its clinical expression varying from farm to farm like an endemic disease. The paper tries to draw "epidemiological" conclusions on the general methods for controlling and/or eradicating the disease, and to identify areas of further research.