Virome of a Feline Outbreak of Diarrhea and Vomiting Includes Bocaviruses and a Novel Chapparvovirus

Abstract

An unexplained outbreak of feline diarrhea and vomiting, negative for common enteric viral and bacterial pathogens, was subjected to viral metagenomics and PCR. We characterized from fecal samples the genome of a novel chapparvovirus we named fechavirus that was shed by 8/17 affected cats and identified three different feline bocaviruses shed by 9/17 cats. Also detected were nucleic acids from attenuated vaccine viruses, members of the normal feline virome, viruses found in only one or two cases, and viruses likely derived from ingested food products. Epidemiological investigation of disease signs, time of onset, and transfers of affected cats between three facilities support a possible role for this new chapparvovirus in a highly contagious feline diarrhea and vomiting disease.

Keywords: Parvoviridae; chaphamaparvovirus; chapparvovirus; diarrhea; fechavirus; virome.

Figure 1

Epidemic curve showing dates of illness onset for cat vomiting and diarrhea cases in outbreak in three shelters from November to January.

Figure 2

Outbreak diagram in three shelters. Animal ID shown for each cat (also see Supplementary Tables). Grey cats: clinically affected and recovered; black cats were euthanized. Red circle around a cat means feces was sampled individually; rectangle around the three cats means a litter of kittens were sampled together. Solid arrow means direct or indirect contact possible (housed communally), dotted line means indirect contact only. Bracket indicates group of affected animals with transmission to another group. Red solid vertical line indicates failed clean break. Red star indicates fechavirus PCR positive cats/samples. Red letter “B” means FeBoV PCR positive cats/samples.

Figure 3

(A) Genome organization of fechavirus. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic trees of NS1 protein sequences (B) and VP1 protein sequences (C). Fechaviruses found in this study were highlighted with blue cycles.

Figure 4

Two main ORFs of the new feline dependoparvovirus and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree of the complete NS1 protein sequences of subfamily Parvovirinae. The new dependoparvovirus identified in cat is shown with a blue circle.