Presence of Equine and Bovine Coronaviruses, Endoparasites, and Bacteria in Fecal Samples of Horses with Colic

Acute abdominal pain (colic) is one of the major equine health threats worldwide and often necessitates intensive veterinary medical care and surgical intervention. Equine coronavirus (ECoV) infections can cause colic in horses but are rarely considered as a differential diagnosis. To determine the...

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Published in:	Pathogens (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 8; p. 1043
Main Authors:	Stummer, Moritz, Frisch, Vicky, Glitz, Frauke, Hinney, Barbara, Spergser, Joachim, Krücken, Jürgen, Diekmann, Irina, Dimmel, Katharina, Riedel, Christiane, Cavalleri, Jessika-Maximiliane V, Rümenapf, Till, Joachim, Anja, Lyrakis, Manolis, Auer, Angelika
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Basel MDPI AG 01-08-2023 MDPI
Subjects:	Anorexia Austria Bacteria Bacteria, Pathogenic betacoronavirus bovine coronavirus Cattle Colic Coronaviruses COVID-19 Diagnosis Differential diagnosis Diseases Endoparasites Epidemics equine coronavirus Feces Gene amplification Genomes Goats Gram-positive bacteria Health risks horse Horses Identification and classification Infections Inflammatory bowel disease Laboratories Maximum likelihood method N gene Parasites Pathogens Phylogeny Salmonella Sediments Veterinary medicine Austria England United Kingdom > UK United States > US Germany
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Summary:	Acute abdominal pain (colic) is one of the major equine health threats worldwide and often necessitates intensive veterinary medical care and surgical intervention. Equine coronavirus (ECoV) infections can cause colic in horses but are rarely considered as a differential diagnosis. To determine the frequency of otherwise undetected ECoV infections in horses with acute colic, fresh fecal samples of 105 horses with acute colic and 36 healthy control horses were screened for viruses belonging to the Betacoronavirus 1 species by RT-PCR as well as for gastrointestinal helminths and bacteria commonly associated with colic. Horses with colic excreted significantly fewer strongyle eggs than horses without colic. The prevalence of anaerobic, spore-forming, gram-positive bacteria (Clostridium perfringens and Clostridioides difficile) was significantly higher in the feces of horses with colic. Six horses with colic (5.7%) and one horse from the control group (2.8%) tested positive for Betacoronaviruses. Coronavirus-positive samples were sequenced to classify the virus by molecular phylogeny (N gene). Interestingly, in three out of six coronavirus-positive horses with colic, sequences closely related to bovine coronaviruses (BCoV) were found. The pathogenic potential of BCoV in horses remains unclear and warrants further investigation.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2076-0817 2076-0817
DOI:	10.3390/pathogens12081043