title: Tracing the transmission of bovine coronavirus infections in cattle herds based on S gene diversity.
abstract: Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) is found worldwide and causes respiratory infections and diarrhoea in calves and adult cattle. In order to investigate the molecular epidemiology of BCoV, 27 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positive samples from 25 cattle herds in different parts of Sweden were analysed. A 1038-nucleotide fragment was PCR amplified and directly sequenced. The analysed BCoV strains showed a high sequence identity, regardless of whether they were obtained from outbreaks of respiratory disease or diarrhoea or from calves or adult cattle. Circulation of an identical BCoV strain during a 4-month period was demonstrated in calves in one dairy herd. In a regional epizootic of winter dysentery in Northern Sweden, highly similar BCoV strains were detected. In the Southern and Central regions, several genotypes of BCoV circulated contemporaneously, indicating that in these regions, which had a higher density of cattle than the Northern regions, more extensive transmission of the virus was occurring. Identical BCoV sequences supported the epidemiological data that inter-herd contact through purchased calves was important. Swedish BCoV strains unexpectedly showed a high homology with recently detected Italian strains. This study shows that molecular analysis of the spike (S) glycoprotein gene of BCoV can be a useful tool to support or rule out suspected transmission routes.
authors: Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Ruminant Medicine and Veterinary Epidemiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors: Mehdi R M
authors: MR
authors: Bidokhti
authors: Madeleine
authors: M
authors: Tråvén
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Ohlson
authors: Claudia
authors: C
authors: Baule
authors: Mikhayil
authors: M
authors: Hakhverdyan
authors: Sándor
authors: S
authors: Belák
authors: Lihong
authors: L
authors: Liu
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Alenius
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D017938:Coronavirus, Bovine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary*; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009666:Nose / Q000821:virology; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D012621:Seasons; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000662:veterinary; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein / Q000662:veterinary; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins