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The porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) that emerged and spread throughout Taiwan in 2014 triggered significant concern in the country’s swine industry. Acknowledging the absence of a thorough investigation at the geographic level, we used 2014 outbreak sequence information from the Taiwan government’s open access databases plus GenBank records to analyze PEDV dissemination among Taiwanese pig farms. Genetic sequences, locations, and dates of identified PEDV-positive cases were used to assess spatial, temporal, clustering, GIS, and phylogeographic factors affecting PEDV dissemination. Our conclusion is that S gene sequences from 2014 PEDV-positive clinical samples collected in Taiwan were part of the same Genogroup 2 identified in the US in 2013. According to phylogenetic and phylogeographic data, viral strains collected in different areas were generally independent of each other, with certain clusters identified across different communities. Data from GIS and multiple potential infection factors were used to pinpoint cluster dissemination in areas with large numbers of swine farms in southern Taiwan. The data indicate that the 2014 Taiwan PEDV epidemic resulted from the spread of multiple strains, with strong correlations identified with pig farm numbers and sizes (measured as animal concentrations), feed mill numbers, and the number of slaughterhouses in a specifically defined geographic area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Influenza A/pdmH1N1 virus prevalence peak occurred in November 2009, but sharply dropped in February 2010 in Taiwan. [•] NJ and ML phylogenetic trees showed 11 unique clusters of influenza A/pdmH1N1, A/H3N2 and B viruses in Taiwan. [•] Phylogenetic evidence indicated multiple independent clades of co-circulating influenza A and B strains in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Taiwan experienced a large number of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) viral infections between March and July 2003; by September of that year, 346 SARS cases were confirmed by RT-PCR or serological tests. In order to better understand evolutionary relationships among SARS coronaviruses (SCoVs) from different international regions, we performed phylogenetic comparisons of full-length genomic and protein sequences from 45 human SCoVs (including 12 from Taiwan) and two civet SCoVs. All the Taiwanese SARS-CoV strains which associated with nosocomial infection formed a monophyletic clade within the late phase of the SARS epidemic. This Taiwanese clade could be further divided into two epidemic waves. Taiwan SCoVs in the first wave clustered with three isolates from the Amoy Gardens housing complex in Hong Kong indicating their possible origin. Of the 45 human SCoVs, one isolate from Guangdong province, China, exhibited an extra 29-nucleotide fragment between Orf 10 and Orf 11—similar to the civet SCoV genome. Nucleotide and protein sequence comparisons suggested that all SCoVs of late epidemic came from human-to-human transmission, while certain SCoVs of early epidemic might have originated in animals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]