Prevalence of group C rotaviruses in weaning and post-weaning pigs with enteritis.
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.
Martella
Vito
V
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
Bányai
Krisztián
K
Lorusso
Eleonora
E
Bellacicco
Anna Lucia
AL
Decaro
Nicola
N
Camero
Michele
M
Bozzo
Giancarlo
G
Moschidou
Paschalina
P
Arista
Serenella
S
Pezzotti
Giovanni
G
Lavazza
Antonio
A
Buonavoglia
Canio
C
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
D000956:Antigens, Viral; D036022:Capsid Proteins; C061332:VP6 protein, Rotavirus