title: Prevalence of group C rotaviruses in weaning and post-weaning pigs with enteritis.
abstract: Diarrheic fecal specimens collected from porcine herds were screened for the presence of group C rotaviruses using a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. A total of 188 samples were tested and 54 were positive. When compiled these data with diagnostic results on group A rotaviruses and enteric caliciviruses we found that all but 5 group C rotavirus positive samples contained at least one additional virus. A subset of samples were subjected to nucleotide sequencing. The selected strains showed an unexpectedly wide range of nucleotide sequence heterogeneity (88.6-100%) to each other and to the reference porcine group C rotavirus strain, Cowden. The nucleotide sequence identity to the genuine bovine and human strains were, respectively, 86.8 and 87.2% or less. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that infection with group C rotavirus is frequent in Italian piggeries. The considerable rate of multiple infections requires further studies to investigate the pathogenic potential of group C rotaviruses in pigs, alone or in mixed infection, and raises challenges in the laboratory diagnosis of porcine enteric infections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Health and Wellbeing, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Bari, S.p. per Casamassima Km 3, 70010 Valenzano, Bari, Italy. v.martella@veterinaria.uniba.it
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Martella
authors.forename: Krisztián
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bányai
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lorusso
authors.forename: Anna Lucia
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Bellacicco
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Decaro
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Camero
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bozzo
authors.forename: Paschalina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Moschidou
authors.forename: Serenella
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arista
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pezzotti
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lavazza
authors.forename: Canio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buonavoglia
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004751:Enteritis / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D010802:Phylogeny; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D014886:Weaning
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D036022:Capsid Proteins; C061332:VP6 protein, Rotavirus