High prevalence and diversity of bovine astroviruses in the faeces of healthy and diarrhoeic calves in South West Scotland.

ABSTRACT: Astroviruses (AstV) are single-stranded, positive-sense RNA viruses and one of the major causes of infant diarrhoea worldwide. Diarrhoea is a common and important cause of morbidity and mortality in calves; therefore, we investigated whether the presence of AstV is associated with calf diarrhoea. We identified diverse AstV lineages from faecal samples of both healthy and diarrhoeic calves and healthy adult cattle in South West Scotland. AstV was common in calves (present in 74% (85/115) of samples) but uncommon in adult cattle (present in 15% (3/20) of samples). No association was found between the presence of AstV and calf diarrhoea or the presence of a specific AstV lineage and calf diarrhoea. AstV was strongly associated with the presence of rotavirus Group A (RVA), and a protective eff

SUBMITTER: Sharp CP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4464496 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature