Independent infections of porcine deltacoronavirus among Haitian children

Abstract

Coronaviruses have caused three major epidemics since 2003, including the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. In each case, the emergence of coronavirus in our species has been associated with zoonotic transmissions from animal reservoirs1,2, underscoring how prone such pathogens are to spill over and adapt to new species. Among the four recognized genera of the family Coronaviridae, human infections reported so far have been limited to alphacoronaviruses and betacoronaviruses3–5. Here we identify porcine deltacoronavirus strains in plasma samples of three Haitian children with acute undifferentiated febrile illness. Genomic and evolutionary analyses reveal that human infections were the result of at least two independent zoonoses of distinct viral lineages that acquired the same mutational signature in the genes encoding Nsp15 and the spike glycoprotein. In particular, structural analysis predicts that one of the changes in the spike S1 subunit, which contains the receptor-binding domain, may affect the flexibility of the protein and its binding to the host cell receptor. Our findings highlight the potential for evolutionary change and adaptation leading to human infections by coronaviruses outside of the previously recognized human-associated coronavirus groups, particularly in settings where there may be close human–animal contact.

An Updated Review of Porcine Deltacoronavirus in Terms of Prevalence, Pathogenicity, Pathogenesis and Antiviral Strategy

“…Such asymptomatic infection may support these species as reservoirs of PDCoV to participate in further interspecific transmission ( 16 ). Moreover, PDCoV is identified in plasma samples of three Haitian children with acute undifferentiated febrile illness, and Vero E6 cells inoculated with plasma from one patient show non-specific CPE at 11 dpi ( 17 ).…”

Porcine Deltacoronaviruses: Origin, Evolution, Cross-Species Transmission and Zoonotic Potential

“…This report was followed by another study that identified and characterized a highly similar canine-feline recombinant alphacoronavirus in a member of a medical team that travelled to Haiti [110]. In November 2021, Lednicky et al [18] reported the first evidence that PDCoV may have jumped from pigs to three children in Haiti. The three children had mild symptoms (febrile, cough, and/or abdominal pain) and recovered.…”

“…From mid-March 2014 to January 2016, PDCoV related diarrhoea outbreaks were successively identified in Canada, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos [30,[43][44][45]. Retrospective studies revealed that PDCoV has been circulating in Taiwan [46], Japan [47], Mexico [48] and Haiti [18] since 2011, late 2013, 2015 and 2014, respectively. PDCoVs or PDCoV-like δ-CoVs have not been detected in the Europe, South American, African, and Australian continents, although retrospective studies have been conducted in Brazil [49] and Spain [50] to identify CoVs in wild birds and pigs, respectively.…”

“…The S gene of the δ-CoV identified in Asian leopard cats and Chinese ferret badgers share over 99.80% nucleotide identity with PDCoV, suggesting a potential crossspecies transmission between these wild mammals and pigs [7]. Additionally, a recent study reported that PDCoV was detected in plasma samples of three Haitian children with an acute undifferentiated febrile illness [18]. In addition to natural cross-species transmission, PDCoV experimentally infected 3-7-day-old gnotobiotic calves with a high level of viral RNA in faeces and PDCoV-specific IgG antibody in convalescent sera [17].…”

“…The clinical impact, prevalence, and disease severity of PDCoV in the field are lower than those of PEDV [14]. However, PDCoV has a broader host range and, unlike PEDV and TGEV, it could/can infect multiple species, including pigs, chickens, turkeys, cattle and humans [7,[15][16][17][18]. This review focuses on the current knowledge on the origin, evolution, cross-species transmission and zoonotic potential of PDCoV.…”