ENTERIC ROTA AND CORONA VIRUSES INFECTION IN NEONATAL CALVES

Ahmed A Zaitoun ,Osama Abdel-Hakim ,Zainab Ahmed Youssef

doi:10.21608/avmj.2018.168671

Abstract

Calf diarrhea is a common syndrome causing colossal economic losses.Rotavirus and Coronavirus are major pathogens of calf diarrhea. During the period of investigation (13 consecutive months), a total number of 140 neonatal calves were carefully examined and thereafter subjected to serological and molecular diagnosis for the diagnosis of Rota and Corona viruses' infection. The serological and molecular diagnosis by using LAT and RT-PCR indicated that positive samples of Rotavirus infection were 21.43% (30/140) and 8% (4/50), respectively. ELISA and RT-PCR were used in diagnosing of BCoV infection and found that positive samples were 2.13% (2/94) and 4% (2/50), respectively. The Prevalence of Rotavirus and Coronavirus infection was 21.43 % (30/140) and 2.13 % (2/94) of the examined calves, respectively. It was found that there was a strong negative correlation between age of examined calves and Rotavirus infection. Coronavirus infection was found in calves at >4-7 weeks. There were no significance difference in Rota and Corona viruses' infection and sex, breed and species of examined calves. The most positive cases of Rotavirus and Coronavirus infection were reported in cold months. The lower infection rate of Rotavirus was recorded in hot months.It is concluded that Rota and Corona viruses play an outstanding role in causing enteritis in neonatal calves in different localities of Assiut governorate.

Highlights

Neonatal calves are the backbone of animal resources for dairy or beef industries (Andrews et al, 2004)
The reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) products of Rotavirus of 1062 bp were visualized on 1% agarose gel but the RT-PCR products of Coronavirus of 730 bp visualized on 1.5% agarose gel
Clinical findings Clinical findings revealed that the investigated enteric calves were showed classic signs of enteritis which suffering from variable degree of diarrhea, dehydration, weakness, reluctance to move, recumbence with signs of comatose

Summary

Introduction

Neonatal calves are the backbone of animal resources for dairy or beef industries (Andrews et al, 2004). Enterotoxigenic K99+ Escherichia coli, followed by Rotavirus, Coronavirus and the protozoan Cryptosporidium parvum are commonly reported endemic micro-organisms associated with neonatal calf diarrhea (Rocha et al, 2017). The infectious agents such as Rota and Corona viruses' appear to be more serious enteropathogens in neonatal calves (Cockcroft, 2015). Both Rotavirus and Coronavirus can induce intestinal villous atrophy

Methods

Results

Conclusion