NADC30-like Strain of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus, China.

To the Editor: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), which is characterized by reproductive failure in sows and respiratory disease in pigs of all ages, is a viral disease with serious economic consequences for the global pork industry (1). PRRS virus (PRRSV), the causative agent of this disease, was identified in Europe in 1991 and the United States in 1992 (2,3). PRRSV is an enveloped, positive-strand RNA virus of the family Arteriviridae. This virus is divided into European genotype 1 and North American genotype 2. Emerging novel PRRSV strains have caused many outbreaks of severe PRRS (4–7). We report emergence of a novel PRRSV (NADC30-like) in China that is genetically similar to the NADC30 strain isolated in the United States in 2008 (8).