Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Detecting and studying astrovirus in puppies with diarrhea
By Martella, Vito et al.·Published in The Journal of general virology·2011·Università, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Detection and characterization of canine astroviruses.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A young puppy with stomach issues, like vomiting and diarrhea, was found to have a virus called canine astrovirus. Researchers discovered this virus in a sample from the pup and noted that it was also present in a significant number of other puppies with similar gastroenteric signs. In fact, nearly a quarter of young pups with diarrhea tested positive for this virus, while only a small percentage of healthy pups showed signs of infection. The puppy recovered, and the findings suggest that canine astroviruses could be a common cause of stomach problems in dogs.
People also search for: puppy diarrhea causes · dog vomiting treatment · canine astrovirus symptoms
Abstract
Astroviruses (AstVs) have been identified only occasionally in dogs. A canine AstV, strain Bari/08/ITA, was detected from a pup with gastroenteric signs and the virus was isolated in cell culture and characterized molecularly. In the full-length capsid protein, the virus displayed genetic similarities (83.5 % aa identity) to another canine AstV strain, although a high rate of variation occurred in the hypervariable domain, which is related to AstV antigenic specificity. Specific antibodies were detected in the convalescent dog, indicating seroconversion, and in 59 % of a collection of dog serum samples. Using primers specific for canine AstV, designed to detect a conserved region of ORF1b, canine AstVs were detected in 24.5 % of young pups with gastroenteritis, either alone or in mixed infections with other canine pathogens. In contrast, AstVs were detected in only 9.3 % of asymptomatic pups. These findings indicate that canine AstVs are common in dogs and may suggest a possible role as canine enteric pathogens.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21471316/