Research article
Recombinant porcine norovirus identified from piglet with diarrhea
1 School of Medical Science and Laboratory Medicine, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, 212013, People’s Republic of China
2 Key laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai JiaoTong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
3 Food Animal Health Research Program, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH, 44691-40961, USA
BMC Veterinary Research 2012, 8:155 doi:10.1186/1746-6148-8-155
Published: 3 September 2012Abstract
Background
Noroviruses (NoVs) are members of the family Caliciviridae and are emerging enteric pathogens of humans and animals. Some porcine NoVs are genetically similar to human strains and are classified into GII, like most epidemic human NoVs. So far, PoNoV have been exclusively detected in fecal samples of adult pig without clinical signs.
Results
Result showed that 2 of the 12 evaluated fecal samples were positive for PoNoVs, one of which was positive for PoNoV alone, and the other was coinfected with porcine circovirus and PoNoV. Phylogenetic and recombination analysis showed that the PoNoV positive alone strain was a recombinant new genotype strain. Experimental infection of miniature pigs with fecal suspensions confirmed that this strain can cause gastroenteritis in piglets.
Conclusion
This is the first report that recombinant new genotype PoNoV exised in pig herd of China, which cause diarrhea in pigs in nature condition. This find raised questions about the putative epidemiologic role of PoNoV.
