Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 May;30(3):370-376.
doi: 10.1177/1040638718756050. Epub 2018 Feb 19.

Diarrhea caused by rotavirus A, B, and C in suckling piglets from southern Brazil: molecular detection and histologic and immunohistochemical characterization

Paula R Almeida  1   2 , Elis Lorenzetti  1   2 , Raquel S Cruz  1   2 , Tatiane T Watanabe  1   2 , Priscila Zlotowski  1   2 , Amauri A Alfieri  1   2 , David Driemeier  1   2
Affiliations

Diarrhea caused by rotavirus A, B, and C in suckling piglets from southern Brazil: molecular detection and histologic and immunohistochemical characterization

Paula R Almeida et al. J Vet Diagn Invest. 2018 May.

Abstract

Rotavirus (RV) is an important viral pathogen causing diarrhea in piglets and other mammals worldwide. We describe 34 cases from 4 diarrheal outbreaks caused by RV in unvaccinated farrowing units in southern Brazil from 2011 to 2013. We performed autopsy, histologic examinations, bacterial culture, RV immunohistochemistry (IHC), and enteric virus detection through molecular assays for rotavirus A, B, and C, transmissible gastroenteritis virus, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, sapovirus, norovirus, and kobuvirus. Histologically, villus atrophy (29 of 34) and epithelial vacuolation (27 of 34) occurred in all 4 outbreaks. Cell debris in the lamina propria occurred in 20 cases, mostly from outbreaks A (8 of 11), C (4 of 6), and D (7 of 11). IHC was positive for RV in 21 of 34 samples. RT-PCR was positive for RV in 20 of 30 samples; RV-C was the most frequently detected RV ( n = 17). Kobuvirus was detected in 11 samples, and, in 3 of them, there was single detection of this enteric virus.

Keywords: Diarrhea; immunohistochemistry; rotavirus; swine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Histologic sections of piglet small intestine. A. Section of small intestine with severe villus atrophy and fusion, cellular debris in the lamina propria (arrow), and vacuolated enterocytes. H&E. B. Atrophic villus with vacuolated enterocytes on its distal portion and multiple coccobacillary bacteria adherent to the surface of enterocytes. H&E.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
IHC-stained histologic sections of porcine small intestines from outbreaks A and C. A. IHC-positive intestinal section from a pig in outbreak A with regular staining throughout the cytoplasm. Rotavirus A (RV-A) and C (RV-C) were detected by RT-PCR in this sample. AEC and Mayer hematoxylin. B. IHC-positive intestinal section from a pig from outbreak C. Only RV-C was detected in this sample. The positive IHC staining is shown as strongly labeled single points next to the nucleus. AEC and Mayer hematoxylin.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alfieri AA, et al. Detection of field isolates of human and animal group C rotavirus by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction and digoxigenin-labeled oligonucleotide probes. J Virol Methods 1999;83:35–43. - PubMed
    1. Alfieri AA, et al. Frequency of group A rotavirus in diarrhoeic calves in Brazilian cattle herds, 1998–2002. Trop Anim Health Prod 2006;38:521–526. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barry AF, et al. Detection and phylogenetic analysis of porcine enteric calicivirus, genetically related to the Cowden strain of sapovirus genogroup III, in Brazilian swine herds. Pesq Vet Bras 2008;28:82–86.
    1. Boshuizen JA, et al. Changes in small intestinal homeostasis, morphology, and gene expression during rotavirus infection of infant mice. J Virol 2003;77:13005–13016. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bremont M, et al. Sequence analysis of the gene (6) encoding the major capsid protein (VP6) of group C rotavirus: higher than expected homology to the corresponding protein from group A virus. Virology 1990;178:579–583. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources