Post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) is a globally emergent epizootic disease of swine. As the name suggests, the disease is mainly described in pigs aged 6-12 weeks and is manifest clinically by mortality, ill-thrift (wasting), paleness, dyspnoea, intermittent diarrhoea and visibly enlarged lymph nodes. Since its first description in Western Canada in 1991 the disease has rapidly spread to all the major pig producing countries of the world including Europe, the Americas and Asia. Most recently, the disease been reported in several countries that were previously considered free from disease (New Zealand and Sweden). PMWS is one of the most common forms of porcine circovirus associated disease (PCVD) on a global scale. The role of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) in PMWS is clear in terms of its association with the pathology, but less clear in terms of the mechanisms of disease induction and pathogenesis. There is evidence that PCV2 was circulating, at least in Europe, as far back as the 1960s in the absence of epizootic PMWS. PCV2 has been associated with a number of non-PMWS disease conditions, or PCVDs, including porcine respiratory disease complex, porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome (PDNS), granulomatous enteritis, and occasional reproductive disorders.
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