국내에서 발생하는 돼지호흡기복합증후군(Porcine respiratory disease complex, PRDC)의 발생 상황 및 원인체의 검출 방법의 비교와 PRDC에서 cytokine의 발현변화 여부를 확인하기 위해서 481건의 시료에 대해 PRDC 발생상황을 조사하였다. 총 481건 중 단독감염은 113건(23.5%), 2종 이상의 원인체에 의한 발병이 348(72.3%)건으로 나타났다. PRDC 발생상황을 주령별로 분석한 결과, 총 348건에서 3주령에서 10주령미만의 돼지에서 258건(74.1%)으로 가장 많이 나타났다. PRDC의 주 원인체로 알려진 PRRSV, PCV2, SIV에 대한 감별진단을 위해 면역조직화학염색법(IHC)과 PCR에 의한 검출을 원인체 검출을 비교한 결과, 결과 PCR 방법이 IHC보다 원인균인 PRRSV, PCV-2의 검출에 효과적인 것으로 나타났으며 이러한 결과를 근거로 PRDC를 유발하는 원인체에 대해서는 임상적으로는 PCV-2는 감염되더라도 병리소견을 발현하지 않는 예가 있어 임상증상을 나타내는 PRDC의 주요 원인체는 PRRSV로 확인되었다. PRDC로 진단된 시료 중 2종 및 3종의 혼합감염군을 대상으로 폐와 림프절에서 cytokine의 발현의 변화를 조사한 결과에서는, IL-6을 제외한 조사된 모든 cytokine들이 2종 및 3종 복합 감염군에서 대조군에 비해 감소되었다.
Porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC) is a common respiratory disease in nursery and grow-finishing pigs. A complex of viral and bacterial agents is known to be involved in the etiology of PRDC. The purpose of this study was to investigate common etiologic agents associated with PRDC in the field and compare detection methods for identifying these agents. To understand the mechanism of polymicrobial infection in PRDC, changes in the expression of cytokines were investigated. In 461 pig samples examined, most of the affected pigs ranged from 3 to 10 weeks old (73.4%), and 348 (75.4%) samples were confirmed as polymicrobial infection. Of the polymicrobial-infected cases, two (50.3%), three (32.2%), four (13.8%), five (3.2%), and six (0.5%) agents were detected. Two- or three-agent infections were the most common, with PRRSV/PCV-2 (44.6%) the most common two-agent infection. PRRSV/PCV-2/H. parasuis (11.0%) was the most common three-agent infection. Comparison of two detection methods (PCR and IHC) in the polymicrobial cases showed that 78.4% were PCV-2 positive with the PCR method, and 26.2% were PCV-2 positive with IHC. SIV was 7.8% by the PCR method and 3.7% positive by the IHC. This result indicates that the PCR method is more useful than IHC for detecting causative agents in PRDC. In the analysis of cytokines in the two- and three-agent infected samples, interleukin (IL)-$1{alpha}$, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and INF-${alpha}$ showed the same expression pattern. All cytokines were suppressed, except IL-6. These findings indicate that changes in cytokine expression could be used to understand the mechanism of polymicrobial infection in PRDC.
