Investigation of the canine distemper virus in dogs living at public kennels in Northern Brazil: validation of a detection assay.

Abstract

Canine distemper (CD) is a severe infectious disease of dogs caused by the Canine Distemper Virus (CDV), a member of the genus Morbillivirus. This study aimed to investigate the circulation of CDV in dogs housed in two public kennels located in Belém in the Amazon region of Brazil. Fecal and rectal swab samples were collected between March 2019 and April, 2020. A one-step RT-PCR was initially standardized for CDV detection in fecal samples. Positive strains were partially sequenced using Sanger sequencing. A prevalence rate of 23.6% was observed, with 18.4% in healthy dogs and 46.7% in dogs with diarrhea. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the samples were closely related to European strains and demonstrated the circulation of Brazilian strains belonging to the Europe 1/South America 1 lineage. This investigation successfully established a CDV diagnostic technique using RT-PCR in blood, feces, and urine samples. This study also verified the circulation of the virus in dogs from public kennels in an important city in the Brazilian Amazon.