An emerging orthopneumovirus detected from dogs with canine infectious respiratory disease in China.

Abstract

Canine infectious respiratory disease (CIRD) is a major cause of morbidity in dogs and is associated with several viral pathogens. The viral diversity associated with CIRD was investigated by analyzing the viral communities from nine CIRD-affected dogs using metagenomics. The results identified 10 mammalian viruses, including canine parvovirus, canid alphaherpesvirus 1, canine kobuvirus, Felis catus papillomavirus 3, canine respiratory coronavirus, canine adenovirus 2, Canis familiaris polyomavirus (DogPyV), canine coronavirus, human papillomavirus and canine pneumovirus (CPnV). Interestingly, CPnV and DogPyV were first discovered in China. Further investigation in 107 samples in China using specific PCR found only two CPnV positive strains in 51 CIRD samples and none in 56 healthy samples. Furthermore, a complete nucleotide sequence of CPnV strain SMU-2020-CB19 and a partial nucleotide sequence of strain SMU-2020-CB14 were obtained. Sequence comparisons and phylogenetic analysis showed that both novel CPnV strains were a close match to the detected swine orthopneumovirus strain in USA, but distantly related to other CPnV strains. Here, the first discovery and characterization of orthopneumovirus in dogs with CIRD in China were reported, highlighting the need for further research on pathogenicity and transmission in China.