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Currently, porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is considered the major pathogen of porcine circovirus associated-diseases (PCVAD) that causes large economic losses for the swine industry in the world annually, including China. Since the first report of PCV2 in 1998, it has been drawing tremendous attention for the government, farming enterprises, farmers, and veterinary practitioners. Chinese researchers have conducted a number of molecular epidemiological work on PCV2 by molecular approaches in the past several years, which has resulted in the identification of novel PCV2 genotypes and PCV2-like agents as well as the description of new prevalence patterns. Since late 2009, commercial PCV2 vaccines, including the subunit vaccines and inactivated vaccines, have already been used in Chinese swine farms. The aim of this review is to update the insights into the prevalence and control of PCV2 in China, which would contribute to understanding the epidemiology, control measures and design of novel vaccines for PCV2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the prevalence and complexity of goose astrovirus genotype 1 and 2 (GAstV 1 and GAstV 2) infections continue to rise in China's goose farming industry, a rapid, reliable and cost-effective diagnostic tool is urgently needed. Duplex SYBR Green I real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) method was developed, which is capable of simultaneous detection of GAstV 1 and GAstV 2. We designed two primer pairs, targeting the viruses conserved genomic regions, facilitating the distinction of GAstV 1 and GAstV 2 through unique melting curve peaks. This method exhibited strong linear relationships in standard curves (R2 = 0.99), and detection limits were 3.18 × 102 and 3.16 × 102 copies/µL for GAstV 1 and GAstV 2, respectively. With intra- and inter-assay variation below 2%, the assay exhibits excellent repeatability. This duplex qRT-PCR, displaying consistent detection rates comparable to a TaqMan-based method, offers a promising, rapid, and cost-effective diagnostic strategy for waterfowl farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]