Prevalence of canine parvovirus and rotavirus with diarrhea in Western Taiwan

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the prevalence of Diarrhea pathogens in pet dogs referred to as Canine Parvovirus
(CPV) and Canine Rotavirus (CRV) in western Taiwan using conventional polymerase chain reaction
(PCR). Fecal samples were collected from 240 dogs which have the symptoms of diarrhea examined by the veterinary
hospitals from March 2015 to March 2017. The PCR sensitivity of total DNAs extracted from 0.1g fecal samples
ranged from 10 ng to 100 ng. The prevalence of CPV and CRV infections were 23.3% (56/240) and 9.2% (22/240)
respectively. The related analysis between prevalence rates and the epidemiological data of pet dogs were correlated
with the age, season, area, vaccination and breed. The results showed that both the diseases have the highest occurrence
in winter and spring, and the highest proportions might occur in puppies, suburbs and mixed-breed dogs. Nonvaccination dogs were the most prone to Canine Parvovirus Enteritis. When dog puppies were infected with CPV, the
mortality rate was high. Since Canine Rotavirus is a zoonosis, the more human being is exposed to it, the higher its
occurrence will be. This study has provided the clinical veterinarian the advanced ability of both the diseases diagnosis
and crucial information for prevention and control of Canine Parvovirus and Rotavirus diseases in Taiwan and
neighborhood countries.