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PHEV RNA Was Detected for the First Time in Wild Boar in Italy

Wild boar in San Rossore, Pisa, Italy
Research · Disease, parasites & microbiology

Porcine hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus (PHEV) RNA was detected in nasal swabs from 12 of 625 free-ranging wild boar (Sus scrofa) sampled in Basilicata, southern Italy, between May 2024 and January 2026. The 12 positive samples represented 1.9% of the animals tested and provide the first molecular evidence of PHEV in Italian wild boar. The animals were sampled through the regional wild-boar control programme in the province of Potenza.

The researchers first screened the samples with a broad coronavirus RT-PCR assay. The 12 coronavirus-positive samples were then confirmed with a PHEV-specific real-time RT-PCR assay and were negative for porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV).

Map of Basilicata showing PHEV-positive and negative wild boar sampling sites
Distribution of sampled wild boar in Basilicata, with PHEV-positive samples shown in red and negative samples in black. Ortello et al. (2026), Veterinary Sciences, CC BY 4.0.

PHEV is a neurotropic betacoronavirus. In young domestic piglets it can cause vomiting, wasting and neurological disease, whereas infection in older pigs is often milder or subclinical. The virus initially replicates in the upper respiratory tract and can then spread along peripheral nerves towards the central nervous system. The authors therefore caution that nasal swabs may miss infections at later stages: the 1.9% figure describes PHEV RNA detected in the sampled nasal swabs, not necessarily the full proportion of infected animals. Sequencing and virus isolation were not possible because the available viral RNA was too limited in quantity or quality.

The study therefore does not show that wild boar are reservoirs or maintenance hosts for PHEV, nor does it demonstrate transmission between wild and domestic pigs. It documents PHEV genetic material for the first time in free-ranging wild boar in Italy, but the epidemiological role of wild boar remains unresolved.

Sources and image credit

  1. Ortello, C., Manzulli, V., Pace, L., Romano, A. C., Toce, M., Palazzo, L., Farina, D., Del Sambro, L., Rondinone, V., Serrecchia, L., & Galante, D. (2026). First detection of porcine hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus (PHEV) in wild boars (Sus scrofa) from Southern Italy: A two-year epidemiological survey. Veterinary Sciences, 13(8), 773. https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci13080773Primary open-access research article published 2 August 2026 under CC BY 4.0. Nasal swabs from 625 wild boar sampled in Basilicata from May 2024 to January 2026 were screened for coronaviruses. Twelve animals (1.9%; 95% CI 1.11–3.33%) were positive for PHEV and negative for PRCV. The authors state that RNA detection does not demonstrate infectious virus, reservoir status or transmission to domestic pigs; sequencing and virus isolation were not achieved.

Image: Daniele Napolitano — wild boar (Sus scrofa) feeding at San Rossore (La Sterpaia), Pisa, Italy, 1 May 2019; Wikimedia Commons. Representative Italian species image; not one of the wild boar sampled in the Basilicata PHEV survey. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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