Occurrence and Associated Risk Factors of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus and Porcine Circovirus Type 2 Infections in Greece.

The objective of the present study was to identify factors associated with the probability of being polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive and the level of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) occurrence in Greek farms. The study included 56 pig farms, with a total population of 22.500 sows, which represent about 40% of the entire capacity of the Greek swine production.

The epidemic volatility index, a novel early warning tool for identifying new waves in an epidemic.

Early warning tools are crucial for the timely application of intervention strategies and the mitigation of the adverse health, social and economic effects associated with outbreaks of epidemic potential such as COVID-19. This paper introduces, the Epidemic Volatility Index (EVI), a new, conceptually simple, early warning tool for oncoming epidemic waves. EVI is based on the volatility of newly reported cases per unit of time, ideally per day, and issues an early warning when the volatility change rate exceeds a threshold.