SENECAVIRUS A: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO EPIDEMIOLOGY, DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS AND IMPACT ON PRODUCTION

Abstract

The Brazilian swine industry is economically important and demands ongoing sanitary rigor. Among the main concerns are vesicular diseases, clinically similar to foot-and-mouth disease and therefore dependent on differential diagnosis. Senecavirus A (SVA), a non-enveloped single-stranded RNA picornavirus, has gained importance in the swine industry due to its environmental stability and capacity for direct and indirect spread. This paper presents a literature review that integrates epidemiological, clinical, diagnostic, and economic evidence on SVA, aiming to support the understanding of the agent's impact and guide control strategies. This lesion is characterized by classic vesicular lesions on the snout, oral mucosa, and foot extremities (coronary band and interdigital spaces), with pain, lameness, and progression to erosions and crusts. In neonates, the presentation tends to be more severe and multisystemic, with weakness, lethargy, diarrhea, and possible neurological signs, associated with higher morbidity and mortality. Given the clinical indistinguishability from other notifiable vesicular diseases, diagnosis is based on laboratory isolation methods, with RT-PCR as the gold standard. There is no specific treatment, and to date, there is no widely licensed vaccine available for routine use in Brazil; therefore, control depends on surveillance, prompt reporting, and rigorous biosecurity while vaccine candidates are evaluated.