Parvovirus enteritis in Eurasian badgers (Meles meles)

Abstract

However, no viral enteropathogens have been confirmed in Great Britain or throughout the range of the Eurasian badger. Histopathological findings suggestive of parvovirus enteritis have been seen in cases of diarrhoea in captive, hand-reared badgers. However, the presence of parvovirus has never been confirmed by laboratory means in these cases (Mullineaux 2003). Parvovirus infection has also been suspected as the cause of myocarditis in a Eurasian badger (Burtscher and Url 2007). This again was based only on histological findings, as there was no parvoviral antibody or antigen confirmation. This communication describes parvovirus infection causing enteric pathology associated with acute diarrhoea and death in badger cubs. Five badger cubs, about 20 weeks of age, at a wildlife centre died with acute severe diarrhoea in a two-week period despite therapy and supportive treatment. Initially, three carcases were submitted to the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA)-Langford for postmortem examination. These had been at the wildlife centre between one and two and a half months. Two were from Somerset and the most recent arrival was from Essex. These were all in fair bodily condition but were dehydrated. All had empty stomachs and in one cub the small and large intestine were also empty. In one of the others moderate amounts of watery yellow contents were present in both the small and large intestine. In the third the contents were pale, red and watery to pasty distally. Capillaria eggs were seen in a rectal faecal sample of

Veterinary treatment and rehabilitation of indigenous wildlife

“…The investigation of the cause of clinical illness in wildlife casualties may lead to the identification of novel pathogens not previously described in that species, such as those associated with enteric disease in European badger ( Meles meles ) cubs (Barlow et al. , ) and causing Tyzzer's disease in a rehabilitated European otter ( Lutra lutra ) (Simpson et al. ).…”

Frequent Cross-Species Transmission of Parvoviruses among Diverse Carnivore Hosts

“…Of these, the viruses from coyote, gray wolf, and striped skunk are only CPV-like, as are most raccoon parvoviruses. However, any such phylogenetic rule is clearly a weak one because viruses from bobcats and pumas (suborder Feliformia) are either exclusively or predominantly CPV-like, and FPV-like viruses were recently discovered in Eurasian badgers (8), a cani- Early studies suggested that CPV in dogs was directly derived from an FPV in a domestic cat (4,16). However, the diverse range of parvoviruses in other carnivore species means that is no longer necessary to think that cats must be the source of the virus that emerged in dogs in the late 1970s.…”

“…A variety of host species other than domestic cats and dogs harbor closely related parvoviruses, and it has become increasingly apparent that nondomestic animals are commonly infected, even though little disease is observed in many cases (8)(9)(10)(11)(12). However, those parvoviruses previously detected in a variety of other species, including many different large cats, raccoons, raccoon dogs, arctic foxes, and mink, often represent opportunistic samples obtained from animals in artificial settings such as zoos or fur farms (13)(14)(15), with the majority of these viruses falling into a single FPV-like clade distinct from CPV in dogs (4,16).…”

A Ten-Year Molecular Survey on Parvoviruses Infecting Carnivores in Bulgaria

“…Another interesting finding of the present report is that the only two parvovirus strains detected in wildlife were both CPV‐2a. While FPLV and all the three CPV variants have been detected in wild carnivores in the USA (Allison et al., ), in Europe, only FPLV and CPV‐2b have been proven to circulate in wildlife (Battilani et al., ; Steinel et al., ; Barlow et al., ; Duarte et al., ). In some instances, the lack of sequence analyses of the VP2 protein gene or of the sophisticated molecular tools, such as MGB probe assays, prevented any definitive characterization of the parvoviruses circulating in wild carnivores (Martinello et al., ; Burtscher and Url, ; Duarte et al., ).…”