Abstract
Noroviruses are associated with intestinal disease in humans, cows, pigs, mice, and, more recently, dogs. In 2007, the first canine norovirus (CNV) was identified and characterized in Italy. Subsequent studies have identified CNV in stools of dogs from Portugal, Greece, and the United States. To investigate the prevalence of CNV in the UK dog population, 228 canine stool samples were screened for CNV by qPCR, and 396 serum samples were screened for anti-CNV antibodies. qPCR of RNA extracted from canine stool samples did not reveal any CNV-positive samples, based on samples collected from diarrhoeic and control dogs in 2012–2013. CNV virus-like particles to three different CNV strains were produced using recombinant baculoviruses and a seroprevalence screen undertaken. Anti-CNV antibodies were identified at significant levels in canine serum; 38.1% of samples collected between 1999–2001 and 60.1% of samples collected in 2012–2013 were seropositive. The increase in seroprevalence over time (p<0.001) suggests that the CNV strains screened for are becoming more widespread. Variation in seroprevalence to different CNV strains was also identified. Two-thirds of the dogs were seropositive to a single strain, whereas the remaining third were seropositive to two or three of the strains analysed. This study has provided the first evidence that CNV is present in the UK, with seroprevalence identified to multiple circulating strains. This warrants further study and increased awareness of this recently discovered canine virus.
Highlights
Noroviruses are members of the RNA virus family Caliciviridae, and are a major cause of human infectious gastroenteritis worldwide
The gastrointestinal clinical signs in a proportion of these cases were unlikely to be attributable to primary gastroenteritis, overall it was found that 43% of dogs enrolled in the study were suffering from gastroenteritis, infectious or otherwise
In addition to canine norovirus (CNV), samples were systematically tested for the presence of canine parvovirus (CPV) and canine enteric coronavirus (CECoV)
Summary
Noroviruses are members of the RNA virus family Caliciviridae, and are a major cause of human infectious gastroenteritis worldwide. An estimated three million people each year in the UK suffer from ‘winter vomiting disease’ caused by human norovirus [1]. In addition to the major burden of noroviruses on human health, noroviruses have been found associated with intestinal disease in cows [2], pigs [3], mice [4], a lion [5], cats [6] and dogs [7]. The first canine norovirus (CNV) was reported from a single dog with enteritis in Italy in 2007. To date there have been no reports of CNV present in the UK
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