Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is a novel coronavirus that causes diarrhea in nursing piglets. In extreme cases, these piglets died following infection. PDCoV is similar to other transmissible viruses in porcine populations, but is not transmissible to humans. Following its first detection in the United States (US) in February 2014, additional PDCoV strains have been identified in the US and Canada. A real-time RT-PCR has been developed by Marthaler et al. to detect PDCoV and has been used to diagnose PDCoV field infections. However, other virological and serological diagnostic assays are lacking. A critical step to develop PDCoV diagnostic assays and potential future vaccines is the isolation of PDCoV in cell culture.

Researchers at The Ohio State University have described the cell culture isolation, serial propagation, and genetic characterization of the cell adapted PDCoV strains from a diarrheic pig. The information presented in this study is important for the development of diagnostic reagents, assays and potential vaccines against the emergent PDCoV strains.