Scoping review on the epidemiology, diagnostics, and clinical
significance of porcine astroviruses
Abstract
Porcine astroviruses (PoAstVs) have been reported globally and are
divided into at least five distinct lineages (PoAstV1-PoAsV5). The
primary objective of this study was to summarize the scientific
literature about the frequency of detection, associated clinical
presentations, and type of samples and diagnostic tools used for the
detection of porcine astroviruses. The secondary objective was to
summarize the body of knowledge about the causal role in disease of
PoAstVs using the Bradford Hill framework. A search was conducted using
Centre for Biosciences and Agriculture International (CABI), MEDLINE,
American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) Swine Information
Library (SIL) abstracts, swine conferences including American College of
Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP), and American Association of Veterinary
Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD). From 168 studies identified by the
search, 29 studies were eligible. Results indicated that 69% (20/29) of
the literature on PoAstVs has been published between 2011 and 2018. Of
29 papers, 52% were detection studies (15 of 29) and 48% (14 of 29)
were case-control studies. Seventy-two percent (21 of 29) reported
differential diagnosis and 10% (3 of 29) reported histologic lesions,
out of which 67% (2 of 3) associated the detection of PoAstV3 with
development of polioencephalomyelitis. PCR-based assays were the most
common diagnostic tools. Keywords: Swine, Astrovirus, Scoping review,
Bradford Hill, PoAstV detection