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Journal of Virology, November 1999, p. 9284-9293, Vol. 73, No. 11
Food Animal Health Research Program, Ohio
Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State
University, Wooster, Ohio 44691
Received 16 April 1999/Accepted 9 August 1999
There is serological evidence that bovine group C rotaviruses exist
in the United States, but there are no reports of their isolation.
Ninety fecal samples from calves with diarrhea, 81 samples from adult
cows with diarrhea (winter dysentery), and 20 fecal samples from
healthy adult cows were tested for group C rotaviruses by
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, immune electron microscopy, and
reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). Three samples from adult cow
diarrhea cases were positive only by RT-PCR, and a group C rotavirus
was isolated from a positive sample in monkey kidney (MA104) cells
(WD534tc/C). Genetically and serologically, the WD534tc/C strain was
more closely related to the Cowden porcine group C strain than to the
Shintoku bovine strain. Because the original cow feces also contained a
group A rotavirus (detected after passage in cell culture), we
hypothesized that such dual-rotavirus infections might play a role in
the pathogenesis and host adaptation of rotaviruses. Thus, we examined
the pathogenesis of WD534tc/C alone or combined with virulent (IND/A)
or attenuated (NCDV/A) bovine group A rotaviruses in gnotobiotic
calves. WD534tc/C alone induced diarrhea without (or with limited)
virus shedding in inoculated calves (n = 3). In
contrast, all calves coinfected with WD534tc/C and IND/A
(n = 2) developed diarrhea and shed both viruses,
whereas calves coinfected with WD534tc/C and NCDV/A (n = 3) developed diarrhea but did not shed either virus. Infection with
WD534tc/C or NCDV/A alone caused only mild villous atrophy (jejunum
and/or ileum), whereas dual infection with both viruses induced lesions throughout the small intestine. Although IND/A alone caused villous atrophy, more-widespread small intestinal lesions occurred in calves
coinfected with WD534tc/C and IND/A. In conclusion, coinfection of
calves with group A rotaviruses enhanced fecal shedding of a bovine
group C rotavirus and the extent of histopathological lesions in the
small intestines. Thus, our findings suggest a potential novel
hypothesis involving dual infections for the adaptation of heterologous
rotaviruses to new host species.
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Dual Infection of Gnotobiotic Calves with Bovine
Strains of Group A and Porcine-Like Group C Rotaviruses Influences
Pathogenesis of the Group C Rotavirus
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Food Animal
Health Research Program, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development
Center, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691. Phone: (330)
263-3744. Fax: (330) 263-3677. E-mail: Saif.2{at}osu.edu.
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