Role of enteric pathogens in the aetiology of neonatal diarrhoea in lambs and goat kids in Spain

Abstract

SUMMARYFaeces samples from diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic lambs and goat kids aged 1-45 days were examined for enteric pathogens. Cryptosporidium parvum was detected in both diarrhoeic lambs (45 %) and goat kids (42%) but not in non-diarrhoeic animals. F5+ (K99+) and/or F41+ Escherichia coli strains were isolated from 26% and 22 % of the diarrhoeic lambs and goat kids, respectively, although these strains, which did not produce enterotoxins ST I or LT I, were found with similar frequencies in non-diarrhoeic animals. A F5-F41 -ST I' E. coli strain was isolated from a diarrhoeic lamb (0-6%). Verotoxigenic E. coli was isolated from both diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic lambs (4-1 % and 8&2 %, respectively) and there was no association between infection and diarrhoea. The prevalence of group A rotavirus infection in diarrhoeic lambs was very low (2 1 %). Groups A and B rotaviruses were detected in three (8-1 %) and five (13-5 %) diarrhoeic goat kids from two single outbreaks. Group C rotaviruses were detected in four non-diarrhoeic goat kids. An association of diarrhoea and infection was demonstrated only for group B rotavirus. Clostridium perfringens was isolated from 10-8 % of the diarrhoeic goat kids but not from non-diarrhoeic goat kids or lambs. Salmonella arizonae was isolated from a diarrhoeic goat kid (2-7 %) and the clinical characteristics of the outbreaks where these two latter enteropathogens were found different from the rest. Picobirnaviruses were detected in a diarrhoeic lamb. No coronaviruses were detected using a bovine coronavirus ELISA. No evidence was found of synergistic effect between the agents studied. Enteric pathogens were not found in four (8-7 %) and three (20%) outbreaks of diarrhoea in lambs and goat kids, respectively.

Genomic characterization of a novel group A lamb rotavirus isolated in Zaragoza, Spain

“…Although group A lamb rotaviruses were first identified in the 1970s [3,[11][12][13][16][17][18] and a lamb rotavirus vaccine, containing OVR strain Lp14 (also known as Lanzhou Lamb Rotavirus [LLR]), is licensed for human use in China [45], the genotypic nature of OVRs circulating in diarrheic lambs is scanty because only a few OVR strains have been isolated and characterized to date. OVR strains have been isolated in the United Kingdom, Japan, and China, but only those isolated from the United Kingdom and China have been characterized [3,13,[16][17][18][19][20].…”

“…OVR strains have been isolated in the United Kingdom, Japan, and China, but only those isolated from the United Kingdom and China have been characterized [3,13,[16][17][18][19][20]. Indeed, the most well- [25] P [8] P [4] P [19] P [6] P [27] P [5] P [12] P [10] P [21] P[15] P [24] P [7] P [13] P [20] P [16] P [3] P [2] P [18] P [1] P [17] P [11] P [26] P [14] 0.05 nucleotide substitutions per bp A Fig. 4 The present study constitutes the first report of an OVR strain, 762, with P [14] and G8 specificities.…”

“…The deduced aa sequences based on the VP8* sequence of OVR762 were compared with those of representative strains of all 27 defined P genotypes (Table 1 and data not shown), and the VP8* of OVR762 revealed high aa identities [90% (La/R-2) to 97% (Hu/PA169)] with those of P [14] strains. With the remaining P genotypes, the aa identity of OVR762 VP8* ranged from 35% (Bo/KK3, P8 [11]) to 83% (Hu/K8, P3 [9]). In addition, BLAST search (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) confirmed the genetic relatedness of OVR762 with P [14] strains of the VP4 gene (85-92%) and its deduced protein sequence (93-97%) as well (data not shown).…”

“…Despite the importance of sheep as farming animals, information of group A ovine rotavirus (OVR) strains is scanty [2,3,11,12]. In the late 1970s, an OVR strain (K923), isolated from a diarrheic lamb, was used to study the pathogenicity of OVRs under experimental conditions using gnotobiotic lambs [12][13][14][15].…”

“…Strain Lp14 has recently been licensed for use as a human vaccine in China (Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products). Antigenic analyses of the original K923 strain [12] and three additional OVR strains, LRV1 (SGI), LRV2a (SGI), and LRV2c (SGII), isolated from lamb feces in the United Kingdom, revealed that the OVR strain K923 was SGI, P [15], and G10 like the strain Lp14, while each of the remaining strains possessed unique antigenic properties commonly found in either cows or humans: P6 [1]G3 (LVR1), P8 [11]G6 (LVR2a), and P1A [8]G9 (LRV2c) [3].…”