To detect avian pneumovirus (APV) in central North America, nasal turbinates or choanal deft tissues from domestic turkeys and wild birds were examined for the presence of APV RNA by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), whereas serum samples from domestic turkeys were analyzed for APV antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In 2002, the seroprevalence of disease in domestic turkeys in Minnesota remained high (42.3% of the flocks). In addition, there is evidence the disease has spread to turkey flocks in North Dakota (8.2%), South Dakota (7%), Iowa (10%), and Wisconsin (8.6%) as detected by RT-PCR and/or ELISA. House sparrows and ring-billed gulls sampled in Minnesota and snow geese from Saskatchewan, Canada, were found to harbor APV RNA. Sequence analysis of wild bird APV strains showed high amino acid sequence identity among wild bird isolates (<97%) and between wild bird and turkey viral isolates (93.2%-99.3%). This study demonstrated that APV infections were present in domestic turkey flocks and wild birds outside the state of Minnesota; however, the role of wild birds in spreading APV to domestic turkeys remains unclear.

Identification of unknown pathogens in pigs displaying enteric illness is difficult due to the large diversity of bacterial and viral species found within faecal samples. Current methods often require bacterial or viral isolation, or testing only a limited number of known species using quantitative PCR analysis. Herein, faeces from two 25-day-old piglets with diarrhoea from Texas, USA, were analysed by metagenomic next-generation sequencing to rapidly identify possible pathogens. Our analysis included a bioinformatics pipeline of rapid short-read classification and de novo genome assembly which resulted in the identification of a porcine enterovirus G (EV-G), a complete genome with substantial nucleotide differences (>30 %) among current sequences, and a novel non-structural protein similar in sequence to the Torovirus papain-like cysteine protease (PLpro). This discovery led to the identification and circulation of an EV-G with a novel PLpro in the USA that has not been previously reported.

The anti-inflammatory phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) modulates immune and inflammatory responses in mouse models of colitis and obesity. ABA has been identified as a ligand of lanthionine synthetase C-like 2, a novel therapeutic target upstream of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR γ) pathway. The goal of this study was to investigate the immune modulatory mechanisms underlying the anti-inflammatory efficacy of ABA against influenza-associated pulmonary inflammation. Wild type (WT) and conditional knockout mice with defective PPAR γ expression in lung epithelial and hematopoietic cells (cKO) treated orally with or without ABA (100 mg/kg diet) were challenged with Influenza A/Udorn (H3N2) to assess ABA’s impact in disease, lung lesions and gene expression. Dietary ABA ameliorated disease activity, lung inflammatory pathology, accelerated recovery and increased survival in WT mice. ABA suppressed leukocyte infiltration and MCP-1 mRNA expression in WT mice through PPAR γ, since this effect was abrogated in cKO mice. ABA ameliorated disease when administered therapeutically on the same day of the infection to WT but not mice lacking PPAR γ in myeloid cells. We also show that ABA’s greater impact is between days 7 and 10 post-challenge when it regulates the expression of genes involved in resolution, like 5 lipoxygenase and other members of the 5-lipoxygenase pathway. Furthermore, ABA significantly increased the expression of the immunoregulatory cytokine IL-10 in WT mice. Our results show that ABA, given preventively or therapeutically, ameliorates influenza virus-induced pathology by activating PPAR γ in pulmonary immune cells, suppressing initial proinflammatory responses and promoting resolution.

Abstract. Although the causative agent of bovine viral diarrhea was initially categorized as 1 species, phylogenetic analysis revealed that these viruses belong to 2 different species, Bovine viral diarrhea virus 1 (BVDV-1) and BVDV-2, with 2-11 subgenotypes within each species. Distribution of species and subgenotypes has been shown to vary with geographic region. Whether distribution shifts over time is not known. Surveys conducted between 1994 and 2008 reported 3 subgenotypes circulating among cattle in the United States: BVDV-1a, BVDV-1b, and BVDV-2a. The average percent prevalence of BVDV-1a, BVDV-1b, and BVDV-2a strains reported in surveys before 2001 were 21%, 43%, and 36%, respectively. Surveys conducted on viruses isolated after 2001 reported decreasing percentages of BVDV-1a and BVDV-2a strains, with BVDV-1b strains accounting for 75-100% of samples. Comparison of these surveys is confounded by differences in geographic location, collection methods, and sample type used in the survey. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the prevalence of BVDV subgenotypes shifted in samples collected from the same geographic region and by the same laboratory over time. BVDV strains isolated in years 1988BVDV strains isolated in years , 1998BVDV strains isolated in years , and 2008, at the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, Amarillo, Texas, were genotyped, and the prevalence of BVDV-1a, BVDV-1b, and BVDV-2a strains were determined. Typing, on the basis of phylogenetic analysis, was done on 148 samples. The strongest trend detected among these samples was a pronounced decrease in the number of BVDV-1a strains over time.

Calf diarrhea (scours) is a primary cause of illness and death in young calves. Significant economic losses associated with this disease include morbidity, mortality, and direct cost of treatment. Multiple pathogens are responsible for infectious diarrhea, including, but not limited to, Bovine coronavirus (BCV), bovine Rotavirus A (BRV), and Cryptosporidium spp. Identification and isolation of carrier calves are essential for disease management. Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory current methods for calf diarrhea pathogen identification include electron microscopy (EM) for BCV and BRV and a direct fluorescent antibody test (DFAT) for organism detection of Cryptosporidium spp. A workflow was developed consisting of an optimized fecal nucleic acid purification and multiplex reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) for single tube concurrent detection of BCV, BRV, and Cryptosporidium spp., and an internal control to monitor nucleic acid purification efficacy and PCR reagent functionality. In "spike-in" experiments using serial dilutions of each pathogen, the analytical sensitivity was determined to be <10 TCID(50)/ml for BCV and BRV, and <20 oocysts for Cryptosporidium spp. Analytical specificity was confirmed using Canine and Feline coronavirus, Giardia spp., and noninfected bovine purified nucleic acid. Diagnostic sensitivity was ≥98% for all pathogens when compared with respective traditional methods. The results demonstrate that the newly developed assay can purify and subsequently detect BCV, BRV, and Cryptosporidium spp. concurrently in a single PCR, enabling simplified and streamlined calf diarrhea pathogen identification.