Genetic analysis of canine parvovirus from dogs in Australia.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the genetic variants of canine parvovirus-2 (CPV) present in domestic dogs in Australia and to investigate 26 cases of apparent vaccine failure.


METHODS
Thirty-three samples of faeces or intestinal tissues and 16 cell culture virus isolates collected over a period from 1980 to 2005 from five Australian states were analysed. Procedure DNA was extracted from the samples and a 1975 bp fragment of the VP1/2 gene of CPV was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequenced. Sequences were compared to published strains of CPV-2, CPV-2a, CPV-2b and CPV-2c.


RESULTS
Forty-one of 43 PCR-positive samples contained CPV-2a viruses. One sample collected in 2002 from a pup in northern NSW contained a CPV-2b virus. One sample that had been included in the study as a CPV-antigen negative control sample contained a CPV-2 virus.


CONCLUSIONS
CPV-2a remains the predominant genetic variant of CPV in dogs in Australia and has not been replaced by CPV-2b or CPV-2c as in many other countries. The vaccine failures investigated in the study were likely caused not by genetic variation of field viruses but by maternal antibody interference in the response of pups to vaccination.
Meers
J
J
School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD 4072, Australia. jmeers@uq.edu.au
Kyaw-Tanner
M
M
Bensink
Z
Z
Zwijnenberg
R
R
D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D004285:Dogs; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005784:Gene Amplification; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010322:Parvoviridae Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D017993:Parvovirus, Canine / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D014765:Viral Vaccines
D004279:DNA, Viral; D014765:Viral Vaccines