title: Frequency and Pathological Phenotype of Bovine Astrovirus CH13/NeuroS1 Infection in Neurologically-Diseased Cattle: Towards Assessment of Causality.
abstract: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has opened up the possibility of detecting new viruses in unresolved diseases. Recently, astrovirus brain infections have been identified in neurologically diseased humans and animals by NGS, among them bovine astrovirus (BoAstV) CH13/NeuroS1, which has been found in brain tissues of cattle with non-suppurative encephalitis. Only a few studies are available on neurotropic astroviruses and a causal relationship between BoAstV CH13/NeuroS1 infections and neurological disease has been postulated, but remains unproven. Aiming at making a step forward towards assessing the causality, we collected brain samples of 97 cases of cattle diagnosed with unresolved non-suppurative encephalitis, and analyzed them by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, to determine the frequency and neuropathological distribution of the BoAstV CH13/NeuroS1 and its topographical correlation to the pathology. We detected BoAstV CH13/NeuroS1 RNA or proteins in neurons throughout all parts of the central nervous system (CNS) in 34% of all cases, but none were detected in cattle of the control group. In general, brain lesions had a high correlation with the presence of the virus. These findings show that a substantial proportion of cattle with non-suppurative encephalitis are infected with BoAstV CH13/NeuroS1 and further substantiate the causal relationship between neurological disease and astrovirus infections.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, Bern CH-3012, Switzerland. senija.selimovic@vetsuisse.unibe.ch.|DCR-VPH, Division of Neurological Sciences, NeuroCenter, University of Bern, Bern CH-3012, Switzerland. senija.selimovic@vetsuisse.unibe.ch.
authors.forename: Senija
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Selimovic-Hamza
authors.affiliation: DCR-VPH, Division of Neurological Sciences, NeuroCenter, University of Bern, Bern CH-3012, Switzerland. celine.boujon@vetsuisse.unibe.ch.
authors.forename: Céline L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Boujon
authors.affiliation: Institute of Veterinary Pathology, Vetsuisse-Faculty, University Zurich, Zurich CH-8057, Switzerland. hilbe@vetpath.uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hilbe
authors.affiliation: DCR-VPH, Division of Neurological Sciences, NeuroCenter, University of Bern, Bern CH-3012, Switzerland. anna.oevermann@vetsuisse.unibe.ch.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oevermann
authors.affiliation: DCR-VPH, Division of Neurological Sciences, NeuroCenter, University of Bern, Bern CH-3012, Switzerland. torsten.seuberlich@vetsuisse.unibe.ch.
authors.forename: Torsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Seuberlich
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019200:Astroviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019350:Astroviridae Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology*; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D018792:Encephalitis, Viral / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization
keywords: astrovirus; bovine; cattle; encephalitis; infection; neurotropic