Canine viral enteritis. I. Status report on corona- and parvo-like viral enteritides.

This report attempts to provide the most recent information on salient features of two newly recognized viral enteritides of dogs. The viruses, a corona-like virus and canine parvo-like virus, are distinct but the disease manifestations in a particular outbreak often are similar. Laboratory study is therefore required. The parvoviral infection generally is more severe, with leukopenia (relative lymphopenia) a most prominent feature. Knowledge of the pathogenesis, epizootiology and the host's immune response is fragmentary at the present time, but research now in progress will doubtless expand knowledge of both diseases and of the viruses that cause them.