Picobirnavirus (PBV) natural hosts in captivity and virus excretion pattern in infected animals

Abstract

A picobirnavirus (PBV) analysis was carried out by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of 513 stool samples obtained from 150 animal species collected from the Córdoba city zoo. The purpose of the present study was to determine susceptible species for PBV infection, the viral excretion pattern in infected animals, and the potential association with PBV diarrheic illness. Our findings suggest that PBVs are widespread in animals and could have a similar excretion behavior to that previously detected in infected humans. No disease association with PBV infection could be demonstrated. Thus, infected animals could be persistently infected asymptomatic carriers and could serve as reservoirs of infection.

Animal Picobirnavirus

“…In animals tested in captivity, Masachessi et al [57] did not find clinical animal data which could suggest state of immunosupression, but these authors concluded that another factor such as stress due to captivity and/or isolation might favor viral replicative cycles. In agreement, in farm animals, Martinez et al, (2010) reported PBV excretion at dissimilar frequencies in fecal samples of pigs of different ages and also with different physiological characteristics, viz.…”

“…Later, PBVs have been identified in faecal specimens of humans practically worldwide [3, 6, 7, 14, 26-29, 51, 55, 56, 61, 68, 76]. PBVs were also detected in faeces of a wide variety of farm mammals, birds, wild animals and birds kept in captivity, etc., viz., pigs [2,4,16,31,34,50,56,67], calves [10,15,35,53,54,61,77,79], rabbits and guinea pigs [25,43,52,65], bats [86], red fox [8], avian such as chickens & poults [1,49,59,69,73], and other wild animals kept in captivity like Giant Anteaters [45]; giant cats like Lion, Puma, Jaguar and Geoffroy's cat [37], sea lion [84], human primates such as Orangutan, wild birds such as American Ostrich, gloomy pheasant, Chinese goose [57], goat kids and lambs [60], donkeys [57,58], foals [9,30], laboratory non-human primates such as rhesus, pigtailed macaques and cynomolgus monkeys [83] and dogs [17,23,81], rats [23,64], snakes [23] and turkeys …”

“…Thus, the probable role of PBV as either a primary diarrhoeal agent in immunocompetent children [6,7], a potential pathogen in immunocompromised individuals [38,39,44] or an innocuous virus in the intestine remains elusive and needs to be investigated despite the numerous reports of the presence of PBV in fecal samples of various hosts species; our current knowledge of their biology, etiology, pathogenicity or their transmission characteristics remains subtle [15,32,33,57], mainly because of their non-cultivable status (in vivo and in vitro) that is, the absence of a cell culture system and suitable animal model for propagating the virus. Further studies in gnotobiotic animals may shed light on PBV pathogenic potential [15].…”

Detection and Molecular Characterization of Porcine Picobirnavirus in Feces of Domestic Pigs from Kolkata, India

“…A research group in Argentina published a study on systematic sampling of fecal specimens from 150 various animals and birds in captivity from a zoo [30]. In that study, PBV was detected by PAGE and silver staining in 3.70 % fecal samples (19 out of 513) among mammals and birds.…”

“…However, the PAGE assay detects the PBVs readily as it is not dependent on their genomic sequences. PBVs are known to cause chronic diarrhoea with prolonged shedding of the virus in humans [24] and various animals [30] besides frequent infections among piglets [5,29]. Moreover, the presence of genogroup I PBVs in humans and different animals, rodents and reptiles, suggests that any specific genogroup is not restricted to specific host [2,3,5,12,16,19,31].…”