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Atypical Porcine Pestivirus Was Detected in 9.7% of Wild Boar in European Russia

Wild boar standing in snow in Volgograd Region, Russia
Research: Disease, parasites & microbiology, Genetics & genomics

A molecular survey of free-ranging wild boar (Sus scrofa) in European Russia detected atypical porcine pestivirus (APPeV, Pestivirus scrofae) in 23 of 236 animals, an overall detection rate of 9.7%. Positive animals were found in four of the seven regions sampled: Moscow, Tver, Belgorod and Tula.

APPeV is a pestivirus of pigs and wild boar. In domestic pigs infection often causes no obvious signs, but infection during pregnancy can cause congenital tremor in piglets; its disease significance in wild boar remains poorly understood.

The researchers tested 445 lung, spleen and lymph-node samples collected from wild boar hunted between 2021 and 2025. Regional detection rates among the four positive regions ranged from 10.5 to 33.3%. Samples from the Moscow region covered the full five-year study period, showing that APPeV had been circulating in the sampled wild-boar population since at least 2021.

Map of European Russia showing four APPeV-positive wild-boar sampling regions in red and three negative regions in blue
Sampling regions in European Russia. Red marks regions with APPeV-positive wild boar; blue marks regions where the virus was not detected. Figure 1 from Anoyatbekova et al. (2026), Frontiers in Microbiology, CC BY 4.0.

Several distinct virus lineages were circulating

Thirteen partial viral sequences from the NS2–NS3 region were obtained for phylogenetic analysis. They were distributed across three clades — genetically related evolutionary groups — and showed high genetic variability. Twelve of the 13 sequences clustered in two clades composed only of isolates from the present study, while previously identified Russian domestic-pig isolates did not group with these two clades. Nucleotide identity among the Russian wild-boar isolates ranged from 86.1 to 99.1%. This broad range means that some isolates were much more genetically different from one another than others, supporting the conclusion that several distinct virus lineages were circulating in the wild-boar population.

Co-infections were common

Co-infections were common among the APPeV-positive animals. Eighteen of the 23 positive wild boar, or 78.2%, also carried at least one of the other porcine viruses tested. Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) was the most frequent co-infection, detected alongside APPeV in 34.8% of positive animals, while 21.7% carried APPeV without any of the other tested viruses. The authors note that it remains unknown whether such co-infections alter the course of APPeV infection.

The authors describe this as the first report of APPeV circulation in wild boar in Russia. The study did not collect data on clinical signs or pathological changes in the sampled animals, so it documents viral infection and circulation rather than disease caused by APPeV in wild boar.

Sources and image credit

  1. Anoyatbekova, A., Zaugolnikova, D., Dmitrieva, M., Kucheruk, O., Bulgakov, A., & Yuzhakov, A. (2026). Detection and genetic characterization of atypical porcine pestivirus in wild boars in European Russia. Frontiers in Microbiology, 17, 1798555.Primary open-access research article, published 2 April 2026. The study tested 445 tissue samples from 236 free-ranging wild boar across seven regions and detected APPeV in 23 animals (9.7%).

Image: Government of Volgograd Oblast (www.volganet.ru) — wild boar in Volgograd Region, Russia; representative species image. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

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