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. 1998 Jun 1;39(2):195–199. doi: 10.1186/BF03547792

Group A Rotavirus as a Cause of Neonatal Calf Enteritis in Sweden

Grupp A rotavirus som orsak till neonatal enterit hos svenska kalvar

K de Verdier Klingenberg 15,25,✉, L Svensson 15,25
PMCID: PMC8050649  PMID: 9787483

Abstract

Faeces samples were collected during outbreaks of neonatal calf diarrhoea in 14 beef and dairy herds. Samples from 33 calves were taken at the onset of diarrhoea as well as from 30 calves with no signs of enteritis. No vaccines or medical treatment had previously been given. The mean age of the calves was 16.8 days (SD 8.2). The clinical evaluation of faeces consistency corresponded well to the dry matter content of the faeces (p<0.001). The samples were analyzed for rotavirus, Cryptosporidium species and Escherichia coli K99+. Group A rotavirus was detected by ELISA and RNA Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (RNA-PAGE) in 14/33 (43.8%) of the samples from scouring calves and 1/30 (3.7%) of the samples from non-scouring calves. The correlation between group A rotavirus and diarrhoea was statistically significant (p<0.001). No non-group A rotaviruses were found by RNA-PAGE. Cryptosporidium species were detected through demonstration of oocysts in smears from 12/63 (19.0%) of the faecal samples, but no statistically significant correlation between diarrhoea and detection of oocysts was demonstrated. Escherichia coli K99+ was not detected in any faeces sample. The clear association between group A rotavirus and diarrhoea is suggested to be due to low pathogenic load in the herds.

Keywords: Enteropathogens, Escherichia coli K99+, Cryptosporidium spp, ELISA, RNA-PAGE

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Prof. Sten-Olof Jacobsson, Dept. of Cattle and Sheep Diseases, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, for initiating the study; Mrs Gunnel Sigstam, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, for providing expert help on ELISA and PAGE; and the Laboratories of Bacteriology and Parasitology, National Veterinary Institute, for skilfully performed analyses. The study was supported financially by Swedish Farmers Foundation for Agricultural Research, grant 114/93, 932904.

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