Transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) of swine: the possible role of dogs in the epizootiology of TGE.

Nine of 11 six-to-eight-week-old beagle puppies from a colony started from hysterectomy-derived breeding stock developed a serological response to a transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE)-associated virus following exposure to TGE-infected pig intestinal tissue. The virus was not isolated on swine testis (ST) cells from dog rectal swabs, except in one instance; however, when composites of rectal swabs from all 11 dogs taken seven days and fourteen days postexposure were fed to piglets, they developed signs of TGE and died within seven days. This TGE-associated virus was readily isolated on ST cells from the rectal swabs of the exposed piglets.