Serologic Evidence of Coronavirus Infection in New York and New England Dairy Cattle with Winter Dysentery

Abstract

Acute and convalescent sera were collected from 8 dairy herds with classic clinical features of winter dysentery. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure coronavirus antibody titers, employing calf diarrhea coronavirus as antigen. Twenty-two of the 35 animals tested (63%) showed a greater than or equal to 4-fold seroconversion. Adult cattle in all 8 herds seroconverted. These findings complement previously reported immunoperoxidase and electron microscopic evidence, suggesting an etiologic role for an enteric coronavirus in this disease.

A Serologic Investigation for Coronavirus and Breda Virus Antibody in Winter Dysentery of Dairy Cattle in the Northeastern United States

“…5,15,16 When a comparison was made of serologic findings for 28 cattle that were studied by both SN and ELISA, SN recognized a 4-fold change in anti-coronavirus titer in 17 of 28 cattle, versus 20 of 28 for the ELISA. 16 The Dutch workers compared serologic findings from 149 affected cows from 19 farms with those of 67 healthy cows from 8 farms without dysentery, a comparison we have not made. They found no statistical difference in the numbers of seroconversions to coronavirus between the two groups.…”

“…We recently reported 63% seroconversion by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method, in 35 sick animals from 8 herds with winter dysentery. 16 Additional evidence, and perhaps the most convincing, that a coronavirus is responsible for winter dysentery, is the demonstration by immunoperoxidase and electron microscopy methods of coronavirus in damaged colonic epithelial cells and mucosal macrophages of both spontaneous and experimentally induced cases. 18 In the Netherlands, however, there has been a serologic association of Breda virus infection with the occurrence of winter dysentery.…”

“…The procedure used to obtain and select the sera used in this study was described in the prior report. 16 Two serotypes of Breda virus are recognized; Breda virus serotype 1 (BRVl) represents the original isolate from Breda, Iowa, and serotype 2 (BRV2) comprises an isolate from Ohio and the second Iowa isolate. Thus far, Breda virus has not been successfully propagated in tissue culture; therefore all studies conducted with this agent employ density-gradientpurified virus particles obtained from an experimentally infected calf.…”

Antigenic and biological comparisons of bovine coronaviruses derived from neonatal calf diarrhea and winter dysentery of adult cattle

“…CD or WD.Bovine coronavirus (BCV) is a primary cause of neonatal calf diarrhea (CD) worldwide [4,13]. Bovine coronavirus is also associated with acute diarrhea in adult cattle during the winter season referred to as winter dysentery (WD) [4,17,18,24,26]. Besides infecting the small and large intestines of calves, BCV also possesses a tissue tropism for the upper respiratory tract [15].…”

Detection of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus in Digested Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Tissue Sections by Polymerase Chain Reaction

“…3,16 In addition, papovavirus infection of numerous other bird species has been described. 7,10.12,14,20,21,24 This report describes BFD in a small aviary and briefly reviews papovavirus infection in pet birds.…”