Vitamin E and selenium levels are within normal range in pigs diagnosed with mulberry heart disease and evidence for viral involvement in the syndrome is lacking

Mulberry heart disease (MHD) in pigs is characterized by lesions of acute haemorrhagic myocarditis and myocardial necrosis. The objectives of this study were to determine the levels of vitamin E and selenium and 13 other trace minerals in heart and liver tissues and to determine the prevalence of certain viral infections in heart tissues from MHD-affected and MHD-unaffected pigs and the vitamin E and selenium concentration in feed samples from selected farms with MHD. Based on the pathological examination, 114 pigs were separated into MHD lesion-negative (L-NEG) (n=57) and MHD lesion-positive (L-POS) (n=57) groups. Seventy-three samples (40L-NEG and 33L-POS) were subjected to chemical analysis, and 66 (32L-NEG and 34L-POS) were subjected to PCR detection for viral pathogens. Lower (P