PCVD is now recognised as a multifactorial disease of pigs.  The causal agent is PCV2, however experimental infections studies and field observations have now shown that full expression of clinical PCV2 seems to require other infectious/non-infectious triggers. In addition, clinical expression of PCVDs has also been anecdotally linked to porcine genetics and nutrition. To date, all the studies on PCVDs within the EU and elsewhere have been conducted by individual laboratories or small teams of laboratories with limited expertise in the range of disciplines needed to properly study a multifactorial disease process.

For the first time, the proposed consortium for this STREP has united an EU-led international, multidisciplinary team with expertise in pig genetics, epidemiology, nutrition, virology, bacteriology, molecular biology, pathology and porcine immunology to study PCVD.  The composition of this new consortium is, in itself, innovative and the interactions, exchanges and transfer of procedures anticipated through the formulation of the multidisciplinary work packages within the project add a new dimension to this innovation. State of the art technologies developed for studies within one discipline will be transferred and applied to other disciplines. Molecular biologists will be directly interfacing with experts in nutrition, virology etc. and pathologists will be directly interfacing with, and applying expertise from experts in porcine genetics etc.  It is anticipated that this unique blend and exchange of expertise within the consortium working on an emerging disease will generate a better understanding of the PCVD process. This will lead  to a more rapid implementation of control strategies. It is also anticipated that the formulation of this international multidisciplinary team will form a platform of expertise for future research and responses to new emerging disease scenarios that threaten the EU agri-food industry and the safety of consumers (Science and Society in Europe : Action 36)

New innovative methods to combine genetic linkage information and gene expression data and microarrays will be developed in order to determine genetic aspects of PCVD on the host side. This will result in a highly synergistic genomic approach describing the molecular basis of PCVDs. 

This project directly addresses many of the concepts which are fundamental to the creation of the European Research Area (CEC “Towards a European research area, COM (2000) 6) in that it promotes “investment in knowledge” and “integration and cohesion in science”.