.
Porcine circovirus is confiemed as a zoonotic disease and can be spread to mice under laboratory conditions. Elsewhere there are suggestions that it does exist in humans, hopefully harmlessly.
A severe outbreak in pigs in Britain in 1998-9 (immediately before the 2000 CSF and FMD epidemics) was covered up. The failure to make PMWS (circovirus) a notifiable disease was publicly criticised later by the former President of the OIE.
When the existence of the disease in Britain became common knowledge, there were attempts to re-date the British epidemic to 2001, and therefore following rather than preceding the CSF and FMD epidemics. The Malaysians spotted the discrepancy.
The intervening decade has been carefully documented on the British newsgroup; uk.business.agriculture searchable on the internet using Google and other news reading services.
British pigs are still sick with circoviruses a decade later, and the disease has spread worldwide. It seems we have very good reason be extremely concerned.
