Case Report J Vet Sci 2018, 19(5), 721-724ㆍhttps://doi.org/10.4142/jvs.2018.19.5.721 J VS Received 25 May 2018, Revised 2 Jul. 2018, Accepted 2 Jul. 2018 *Corresponding author: Tel: +82-2-53-950-5973; Fax: +82-53-950-5973; E-mail: parkck@knu.ac.kr † Present address: College of Veterinary Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Korea Journal of Veterinary Scienceㆍⓒ 2018 The Korean Society of Veterinary Science. All Rights Reserved. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. pISSN 1229-845X eISSN 1976-555X Detection and genetic characterization of porcine circovirus 3 from aborted fetuses and pigs with respiratory disease in Korea Seong-Hee Kim 1 , Ji-Young Park 1,2 , Ji-Youl Jung 1,† , Ha-Young Kim 1 , Yu-Ri Park 1,2 , Kyoung-Ki Lee 1 , Young S. Lyoo 3 , Sang-Geon Yeo 2 , Choi-Kyu Park 2, * 1 Animal Disease Diagnostic Division, Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, Gimcheon 39660, Korea 2 College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Disease Intervention Center, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea 3 College of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea A novel porcine circovirus 3 (PCV3) was first detected in pigs showing porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome, reproductive failure, and multisystemic inflammation in the USA. Herein, we report on PCV3 as a potential etiological agent of clinical signs, reproductive failure and respiratory distress on Korean pig farms, based on in situ hybridization, pathological, and molecular findings. Confirmation of the presence of PCV3 may increase co-infection with other causative agents of disease in Korean pig herds, indicating the need for further systemic investigation of pathogenicity and of multiple infections with PCV2 genotypes and bacteria, and the development of an effective PCV3 vaccine. Keywords: Korea, porcine circovirus 3, reproductive failure and respiratory distress Circoviruses are non-enveloped, spherical viruses with a small monomeric single-stranded circular DNA genome of 1,759 to 1,768 nucleotides [5]. Two genotypes of porcine circovirus (PCV), PCV1 and PCV2, reportedly infect pigs. While PCV1 is considered non pathogenic [18], PCV2 is a major pathogen of porcine circovirus disease, which is characterized by reproductive disorders, enteritis, postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome (PDNS), proliferative and necrotizing pneumonia, and porcine respiratory disease complex [13]. Five PCV2 genotypes are recognized: PCV2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, and 2e [4]. The genetic diversity of PCV2 strains has continuously increased, and co-existence of different PCV2 genotypes in one pig herd has been reported [8,19]. Palinski et al. [11] identified a highly divergent new genotype of PCV, designated PCV3, from sows with PDNS-like clinical signs and mummified fetuses of various gestational ages. Furthermore, Phan et al. [12] reported the detection of PCV3 in wasted pigs with cardiac pathology and multisystem inflammation at 2 to 3 and 9 to 10 weeks of age. Porcine astrovirus was also detected in those animals. In this study, we report the first detection and molecular characterization of PCV3 from pigs with reproductive failure and respiratory distress on Korean domestic pig farms. The full-length genome sequences of two strains were determined and compared with those of Korean PCVs and recently reported strains in other countries, including the USA and China. Between November 2016 and January 2017, a fattening pig farm with an inventory of 1,200 sows located in North Gyeongsang Province, in the southeast of Korea, experienced a 10% increase in the sow abortion rate and a 20% increase in the suckling pig death rate above the historical average abortion rate. A veterinarian submitted autopsy samples of 14 aborted fetuses of gestational age 60 to 100 days from 6 sows and 8 weak 3- to 7-day-old suckling pigs from 4 sows to the Animal Disease Intervention Center at Kyungpook National University, Korea for etiological diagnosis. Total nucleic acids were extracted from the supernatant of each submitted sample (lungs and hearts of aborted fetuses and lungs, hearts, lymph nodes, kidneys, spleens, and livers of suckling pigs) and subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reverse transcriptase