Overview of Porcine teschovirus
Porcine teschovirus (PTV) is a non-enveloped, single-stranded, positive sense RNA virus, approximately 7.1 kb in length assigned to the genus Teschovirus and family Picornaviridae. Disease caused by PTV goes by several names including Teschen disease, Talfan disease, poliomyelitis suum, benign enzootic paresis, Klobauk disease and contagious porcine paralysis. First reported in 1929 as a virulent, highly lethal polioencephalomyelitis in pigs found in the township of Teschen, Czech Republic, Teschen disease has been rarely observed in western Europe since 1950. More recently, PTV outbreaks have occurred in 2009 in Haiti and 2011 in Canada. While infections generally present as subclinical, several clinical conditions may affect different body systems, including nervous, reproductive, enteric, respiratory, and integumentary.
