title: First molecular evidence of kobuviruses in goats in Italy.
abstract: By screening 139 rectal swabs collected from either asymptomatic or diarrhoeic goats in Italy, we identified kobuvirus RNA in eight samples (5.8 %). Higher positivity rates were observed in diarrhoeic goats (6.5 %, 3/46) than in asymptomatic animals (5.4 %, 5/93), although the difference was not statistically significant. Based on the analysis of a portion of the 3D gene, four strains were found to share the highest nucleotide (nt) sequence identity with bovine kobuviruses (95.0-98.0 %), which had been detected previously in calves in the UK and Korea. Interestingly, two strains were genetically related to the newly discovered caprine kobuviruses (83.0-97.0 % nt sequence identity), which had been identified in black goats in Korea and in roe deer in Italy. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that kobuviruses are common enteric viruses of goats, although their clinical relevance remains to be investigated.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Piazza Aldo Moro, 45, 64100, Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Melegari
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Piazza Aldo Moro, 45, 64100, Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Di Profio
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Piazza Aldo Moro, 45, 64100, Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sarchese
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Università Aldo Moro di Bari, Valenzano, Italy.
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Martella
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Piazza Aldo Moro, 45, 64100, Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Fulvio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marsilio
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Piazza Aldo Moro, 45, 64100, Teramo, Italy. bdimartino@unite.it.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Di Martino
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D058345:Asymptomatic Infections; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D005814:Genes, Viral; D015511:Goat Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D006041:Goats / Q000821:virology*; D007558:Italy; D052699:Kobuvirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010802:Phylogeny; D010850:Picornaviridae Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D012007:Rectum / Q000821:virology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid