Cosavirus (family Picornaviridae) in pigs in Thailand and Japan

• Main Authors: Okitsu S., Khamrin P., Hanaoka N., Thongprachum A., Takanashi S., Fujimoto T., Mizuguchi M., Shimizu H., Hayakawa S., Maneekarn N., Ushijima H.
• Format: Journal
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=84952862437&origin=inward; http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/jspui/handle/6653943832/42520
• Institution: Chiang Mai University

© 2015, Springer-Verlag Wien. Cosavirus is a recently established genus in the family Picornaviridae. The present study investigated the prevalence and genetic diversity of cosaviruses in stool samples collected from piglets a nd pigs with and without diarrhea in Thailand and Japan. It was observed that the cosavirus-positive rate in Thailand was higher than in Japan (55.4 % vs. 18.9 %). Phylogenetic analysis of a portion of the 5’ untranslated region showed that porcine cosavirus strains clustered together in the same branch with members of the species Cosavirus A. These strains showed 97.0 to 100 % nucleotide sequence identity to each other. The virus concentration of cosavirus was very low compared with that detected in a infant with diarrhea. These results demonstrated that cosaviruses were circulating in the swine populations of both countries during the study term; however, it remains unclear whether the virus causes diarrhea in piglets and pigs.