title: Gastroenteritis outbreak associated with faecal shedding of canine norovirus in a Portuguese kennel following introduction of imported dogs from Russia.
abstract: We describe an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in dogs in March 2011 in a Portuguese kennel after the introduction of imported Russian dogs. Canine norovirus was detected in faecal samples of all dogs with AGE symptoms. Partial sequence analysis of the RT-PCR products confirmed that all canine norovirus strains were identical. The canine norovirus infection disseminated rapidly in 2 days to all dogs in the kennel demonstrating the highly contagious nature of this virus. The incubation period was <48 h, the diarrhoeal disease was self-limiting and the viral shedding lasted <7 days. Overall, the epidemiological features of this outbreak resembled those of human norovirus infections.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmacy, Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.  
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Mesquita
authors.forename: M S J
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Nascimento
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017250:Caliciviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D029322:Norovirus / Q000145:classification*; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D012426:Russia / Q000453:epidemiology