Martínez Mindre A, Alcalá Ana C, Carruyo Gabriela, Botero Ligia, Liprandi Ferdinando, Ludert Juan E
Centro de Microbiología y Biología Celular, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela.
Vet Microbiol. 2006 Aug 25;116(1-3):77-84. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2006.03.016. Epub 2006 May 15.
Caliciviruses are a well-established cause of respiratory, vesicular and hemorrhagic diseases in animals. In addition, these viruses are an important cause of enteric diseases in humans. Recently, molecular analysis of several porcine enteric caliciviruses indicated that they are closely related to human enteric caliciviruses. The objective of this work was to determine the frequency, age distribution, and association with diarrhea of enteric calicivirus infections in piglets and to partially characterize the detected isolates. A total of 203 stool samples from animals 0 to 9 weeks of age, collected between 1993 and 2003 in seven porcine farms located in the central region of Venezuela were tested for enteric caliciviruses by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification using primers designed to detect both norovirus and sapovirus. Selected amplicons were sequenced to establish phylogenetic relationships with reference strains. Calicivirus were detected in 18% (36/204) of the samples. Viruses were detected more frequently in animals between 3 and 4 weeks of age, and were detected in samples from animals with diarrhea and without diarrhea with equal frequencies (14 versus 19%, p>0.5). Phylogenetic studies based on partial RNA polymerase gene sequences indicated that the Venezuelan isolates were most closely related (75-95% identity) to the sapovirus Cowden reference strain. These results provide evidence that caliciviruses of the genus sapovirus circulate frequently in piglets but further studies are needed to clarify their importance as cause of diarrhea.
杯状病毒是动物呼吸道、水疱性和出血性疾病的既定病因。此外，这些病毒是人类肠道疾病的重要病因。最近，对几种猪肠道杯状病毒的分子分析表明，它们与人类肠道杯状病毒密切相关。这项工作的目的是确定仔猪肠道杯状病毒感染的频率、年龄分布以及与腹泻的关联，并对检测到的分离株进行部分特征描述。1993年至2003年期间，在委内瑞拉中部地区的七个养猪场收集了203份0至9周龄动物的粪便样本，使用设计用于检测诺如病毒和札如病毒的引物，通过逆转录-聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）扩增检测肠道杯状病毒。对选定的扩增子进行测序，以建立与参考菌株的系统发育关系。在18%（36/204）的样本中检测到杯状病毒。在3至4周龄的动物中更频繁地检测到病毒，并且在腹泻动物和无腹泻动物的样本中检测到病毒的频率相同（14%对19%，p>0.5）。基于部分RNA聚合酶基因序列的系统发育研究表明，委内瑞拉分离株与札如病毒考登参考菌株关系最为密切（同一性为75-95%）。这些结果提供了证据，表明札如病毒属的杯状病毒在仔猪中频繁传播，但需要进一步研究以阐明它们作为腹泻病因的重要性。
