CEEZAD study finds that pigs can transmit Mpox to sentinel animals
February 5, 2025
An article co-authored by the Director of the Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases (CEEZAD, www.ceezad.org) and the Center on Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (CEZID; https://www.k-state.edu/cezid/) reports on findings concerning the transmission and susceptibility of the Mpox virus in a domestic livestock species.
The article was co-authored by Dr. Juergen A. Richt, Regents and University Distinguished Professor at Kansas State University and director of CEEZAD and CEZID. It was published in the December 13 edition of Emerging Microbes And Infections.
Other co-authors include Igor Morozov, Natasha N Gaudreault, Jessie D Trujillo, Konner Cool, Taeyong Kwon, Dashzeveg Bold, Velmurugan Balaraman, Patricia Assato, Emily Mantlo, Jayme Souza-Neto, Franco Matias Ferreyra, Jaime Retallick, Roman Pogranichniy, David A Meekins, Velmurugan Balaraman, Bianca Libanori Artiaga, Daniel W Madden and Chester McDowell, all of the Department of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology at Kansas State University and CEEZAD.
Mpox virus (MPXV) is a re-emerging zoonotic poxvirus responsible for producing skin lesions in humans. Endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, the 2022 outbreak with a clade IIb strain has resulted in ongoing sustained transmission of the virus worldwide. MPXV has a relatively wide host range, with infections reported in rodent and non-human primate species. However, the susceptibility of many domestic livestock species remains unknown.
CEEZAD scientists conducted a susceptibility/transmission study in domestic pigs that were experimentally inoculated with a 2022 MPXV clade IIb isolate or served as sentinel contact control animals. Several principal-infected and sentinel contact control pigs developed minor lesions near the lips and nose starting at 12 through 18 days post-challenge (DPC). No virus was isolated and no viral DNA was detected from the lesions; however, MPXV antigen was detected by IHC in tissue from a pustule of a principal infected pig.
Viral DNA and infectious virus were detected in nasal and oral swabs up to 14 DPC, with peak titers observed at 7 DPC. Viral DNA was also detected in nasal tissues or skin collected from two principal-infected animals at 7 DPC post-mortem. Furthermore, all principal-infected and sentinel control animals enrolled in the study seroconverted.
The study provides the first evidence that domestic pigs are susceptible to experimental MPXV clade IIb infection and can transmit the virus to contact animals.