Detection of bovine torovirus in fecal specimens from calves with diarrhea in Turkey

Bovine torovirus (BToV), a member of the family Coronaviridae, is an established gastrointestinal infectious agent in cattle. In this study, we performed a survey to detect BToV in Turkey between 2009 and 2011 using 235 fecal samples from neonatal calves with diarrhea that were analyzed by the nested reverse transcription (RT) PCR method using primers located in the consensus sequences of the BToV membrane (M) gene. The BToV M gene was detected in 4.7 % (11/235) of the samples using the nested RT-PCR method. The nucleotide sequences of partial M fragments from the BToV isolates, including the newly identified Turkish isolates, showed more than 96 % identity. The result indicates that BToV is one of the pathogens that contribute to neonatal calf diarrhea cases in Turkey

Molecular characterization of the bovine noroviruses from diarrheic calves in Turkey

In this study, we performed a survey to detect bovine noroviruses (BNoVs) in Turkey between 2009 and 2011 using 235 fecal samples from neonatal calves with diarrhea that were analyzed by nested reverse-transcription RT-PCR, using primers located in the consensus sequences of the BNoV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene. The BNoV RdRp gene was detected in 1.7% (4/235) of samples by nested RT-PCR. The nucleotide sequences of partial RdRp fragments from the BNoV isolates including the newly identified Turkish isolates showed more than 86.3% nt and 96.8% aa identity with each other. Interestingly, in a comparison of the nt and aa sequences, one of the Turkish BNoV strains was found to be 100% aa identical with some Italian and Tunisian strains. In conclusion, BNoV is one of the pathogens that contributes to neonatal calf diarrhea cases in Turkey