title: Low prevalence of equine coronavirus in foals in the largest thoroughbred horse breeding region of Japan, 2012-2014.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Equine coronavirus (ECoV) is considered to be a diarrheic pathogen in foals. In central Kentucky in the United States, it has been shown that approximately 30 % of thoroughbred foals are infected with ECoV and thus it is considered widely prevalent. In contrast, the epidemiology of ECoV and its relationship to diarrhea in foals are poorly understood in Japan. We investigated ECoV in rectal swabs collected from thoroughbred foals in Japan.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We collected 337 rectal swabs from 307 diarrheic foals in the Hidaka district of Hokkaido, the largest thoroughbred horse breeding region in Japan, between 2012 and 2014. In addition, 120 rectal swabs were collected from 120 healthy foals in 2012. These samples were tested by reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification and a real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. All samples collected from diarrheic foals were negative, and only three samples (2.5 %) collected from healthy foals were positive for ECoV. Compared with central Kentucky, ECoV is not prevalent among thoroughbred foals in the Hidaka district of Hokkaido.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ECoV is not prevalent and was not related to diarrhea in thoroughbred foals in the Hidaka district of Hokkaido between 2012 and 2014.
authors.affiliation: Epizootic Research Center, Equine Research Institute, Japan Racing Association, 1400-4 Shiba, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, 329-0412, Japan. nemoto_manabu@equinst.go.jp.
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nemoto
authors.affiliation: Hokkaido Kushiro Livestock Hygiene Service Center, 127-1 Otanoshike, Kushiro, Hokkaido, 084-0917, Japan. one.yasuhiro@pref.hokkaido.lg.jp.
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oue
authors.affiliation: Hidaka Agriculture Mutual Aid Association, 200 Higashihourai, Mitsuishi, Shinhidaka-cho, Hidaka-gun, Hokkaido, 059-3105, Japan. hig@cocoa.ocn.ne.jp.
authors.forename: Tohru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.affiliation: Epizootic Research Center, Equine Research Institute, Japan Racing Association, 1400-4 Shiba, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, 329-0412, Japan. kinoshita@equinst.go.jp.
authors.forename: Yuta
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.affiliation: Epizootic Research Center, Equine Research Institute, Japan Racing Association, 1400-4 Shiba, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, 329-0412, Japan. bannai@equinst.go.jp.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bannai
authors.affiliation: Epizootic Research Center, Equine Research Institute, Japan Racing Association, 1400-4 Shiba, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, 329-0412, Japan. kotsuji@equinst.go.jp.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsujimura
authors.affiliation: Epizootic Research Center, Equine Research Institute, Japan Racing Association, 1400-4 Shiba, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, 329-0412, Japan. yamanaka@equinst.go.jp.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamanaka
authors.affiliation: Epizootic Research Center, Equine Research Institute, Japan Racing Association, 1400-4 Shiba, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, 329-0412, Japan. kondo@equinst.go.jp.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kondo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017934:Coronavirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D000086462:Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006736:Horses; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D000086462:Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins