Screening of Healthy Pigs for Viral Pathogens

Seven cross-bred pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) of either sex, aged 6–18 months old, were used as blood donors in this study. Animals were housed at the Experiment Station of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale (IZS) of Sardinia (Surigheddu, Sassari, Italy) and their health status was routinely monitored by trained veterinarians. Pigs were screened for ASFV, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), porcine parvovirus (PPV), porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2), and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae using commercial real-time PCR kits (LSI VetMAX™ PRRSV EU/NA and VetMAX™-Plus qPCR Master Mix, both from Thermo Fisher Scientific) or qualitative real-time PCR as previously described [23 (link),24 (link)], with primers reported in the Supplementary Table S1 [25 (link),26 (link),27 (link)]. Animal handling and experimental procedures (bleeding) were approved by the local ethics committee and were authorized by the Ministry of Health (authorization n° 1232/2020-PR).