Clinical advances: pregnancy in gastroenterologic and hepatic conditions.

The fields of gastroenterology and hepatology, along with endoscopic practice, have seen significant changes and innovations to practice in just the past few years. These practice changes are not limited to gastroenterology, but maternal fetal medicine and the care of the pregnant person have become increasingly more sophisticated as well. Gastroenterologists are frequently called on to provide consultative input and/or perform endoscopy during pregnancy. To be able to provide the best possible care to these patients, gastroenterologists need to be aware of (and familiar with) the various nuances and caveats related to the care of pregnant patients who either have underlying gastrointestinal (GI) conditions or present with GI and liver disorders. Here, we offer a clinical update with references more recent than 2018, along with a few words about SARS-CoV-2 infection and its relevance to pregnancy.

Characterisation of the Upper Respiratory Tract Virome of Feedlot Cattle and Its Association with Bovine Respiratory Disease.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a major health problem within the global cattle industry. This disease has a complex aetiology, with viruses playing an integral role. In this study, metagenomics was used to sequence viral nucleic acids in the nasal swabs of BRD-affected cattle. The viruses detected included those that are well known for their association with BRD in Australia (bovine viral diarrhoea virus 1), as well as viruses known to be present but not fully characterised (bovine coronavirus) and viruses that have not been reported in BRD-affected cattle in Australia (bovine rhinitis, bovine influenza D, and bovine nidovirus). The nasal swabs from a case-control study were subsequently tested for 10 viruses, and the presence of at least one virus was found to be significantly associated with BRD. Some of the more recently detected viruses had inconsistent associations with BRD. Full genome sequences for bovine coronavirus, a virus increasingly associated with BRD, and bovine nidovirus were completed. Both viruses belong to the Coronaviridae family, which are frequently associated with disease in mammals. This study has provided greater insights into the viral pathogens associated with BRD and highlighted the need for further studies to more precisely elucidate the roles viruses play in BRD.

The S protein of a novel recombinant PEDV strain promotes the infectivity and pathogenicity of PEDV in mid-west China.

Porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) is an emerging and re-emerging swine enterovirus that causes highly contagious diarrhoea and mortality in piglets. To better understand the current prevalence of PEDV in mid-west China, and to find out the reason for the re-emergence of PEDV from the viral genomic characteristics. Herein, we firstly investigated epidemiology of PEDV in mid-west China from 2019 to 2020. A total of 62.23% (257/413) of diarrhoea samples were positive for PEDV, and the PEDV-positive cases were mainly detected in winter. Then, we selected the SXSL strain as a representative strain to study the genetic and pathogenic characterization of PEDV pandemic strains in mid-west China. The recombination analysis showed that SXSL strain was a recombinant strain, and the major and minor parent strains of the recombination are CH/SCZJ/2018 strain and GDS48 strain, respectively. Complete genome sequencing and homology analysis showed that the S protein of SXSL strain contained multiple amino acid indels and mutations compared to the PEDV representative strains. Furthermore, we evaluated the effect of S protein on the infectivity and pathogenicity of PEDV by the PEDV reverse genetics system, and results showed that SXSL S protein increased the infectivity and pathogenicity of chimeric virus. Overall, our findings provided important information for understanding the roles of S protein in the prevalence of PEDV in mid-west China and developing vaccines based on PEDV pandemic strains.

Evaluation of a novel multiplex qPCR method for rapid detection and quantification of pathogens associated with calf diarrhoea.

AIMS: Diarrhoea is a common health problem in calves and a main reason for use of antimicrobials. It is associated with several bacterial, viral and parasitic pathogens, most of which are commonly present in healthy animals. Methods, which quantify the causative agents, may therefore improve confidence in associating a pathogen to the disease. This study evaluated a novel commercially available, multiplex quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay (Enterit4Calves) for detection and quantification of pathogens associated with calf-diarrhoea. METHODS AND RESULTS: Performance of the method was first evaluated under laboratory conditions. Then it was compared with current routine methods for detection of pathogens in faecal samples from 65 calves with diarrhoea and in 30 spiked faecal samples. The qPCR efficiencies were between 84%-103% and detection limits of 100-1000 copies of nucleic acids per sample were observed. Correct identification was obtained on 42 strains of cultured target bacteria, with only one false positive reaction from 135 nontarget bacteria. Kappa values for agreement between the novel assay and current routine methods varied between 0.38 and 0.83. CONCLUSION: The novel qPCR method showed good performance under laboratory conditions and a fair to good agreement with current routine methods when used for testing of field samples. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF STUDY: In addition to having fair to good detection abilities, the novel qPCR method allowed quantification of pathogens. In the future, use of quantification may improve diagnosis and hence treatment of calf diarrhoea.

Characterization of an outbreak of equine coronavirus infection in adult horses in Switzerland.

INTRODUCTION: Outbreaks of equine coronavirus (ECoV) infections have been described in different parts of the world including Europe. The aim of this report was to describe clinical signs, diagnostic work-up and outcome of the first documented outbreak of ECoV in Switzerland in order to raise the awareness for the disease and its various clinical presentations. The outbreak occurred on a farm with 26 horses. Of these, seven horses developed clinical disease ranging from mild signs such as fever and anorexia to severe signs of acute colitis. One horse died due to severe endotoxemia and circulatory shock secondary to severe acute necrotizing enteritis and colitis. Out of the 26 horses, five horses tested positive for ECoV, including two ponies without any clinical signs of infection. The low number of positive cases should nevertheless be interpreted with caution as testing was only performed on one occasion, over a month after the onset of clinical signs in the first suspected case. This report highlights the importance of diagnostic testing and early implementation of biosecurity measures on a farm with an ECoV outbreak. It should furthermore raise the awareness for unspecific and mild clinical signs such as fever and anorexia in affected animals that are potentially able to spread the disease.

INTRODUCTION: Des foyers d'infection à coronavirus équin (ECoV) ont été décrits dans différentes parties du monde, y compris en Europe. L'objectif de ce rapport est de décrire les signes cliniques, le diagnostic et les conséquences du premier foyer d'ECoV documenté en Suisse, afin de sensibiliser le public à cette maladie et à ses différents aspects cliniques. L'épidémie s'est produite dans une écurie comptant 26 chevaux. Parmi ceux-ci, sept chevaux ont développé une forme clinique allant de signes légers tels que la fièvre et l'anorexie à des signes sévères de colite aiguë. Un cheval est mort en raison d'une endotoxémie sévère et d>un choc circulatoire secondaire à une entérite nécrosante aiguë sévère et à une colite. Sur les 26 chevaux, cinq ont été testés positifs à l>ECoV, dont deux poneys sans aucun signe clinique d'infection. Le faible nombre de cas positifs doit néanmoins être interprété avec prudence car les tests n'ont été effectués qu'à une seule occasion, plus d'un mois après l'apparition des signes cliniques chez le premier cas suspect. Ce rapport souligne l'importance des tests de diagnostic et de la mise en œuvre rapide de mesures de biosécurité dans une exploitation où un foyer d'ECoV est détecté. Il devrait en outre sensibiliser à la présence de signes cliniques peu spécifiques et bénins tels que la fièvre et l'anorexie chez les animaux atteints qui sont potentiellement capables de propager la maladie.

Co-infection of porcine deltacoronavirus and porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus alters gut microbiota diversity and composition in the colon of piglets.

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) and porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) are the main porcine enteric coronaviruses that cause severe diarrhoea in piglets, posing huge threat to the swine industry. Our previous study verified that the co-infection of PDCoV and PEDV is common in natural swine infections and obviously enhances the disease severity in piglets. However, the effects of co-infection of PDCoV and PEDV on intestinal microbial community are unknown. In current study, the microbial composition and diversity in the colon of piglets were analyzed. Our results showed that both of PDCoV and PEDV were mainly distributed in the small intestines and caused severe damage of ileum but not colon in the co-inoculated piglets. Furthermore, we observed that PDCoV and PEDV co-infection alters the gut microbiota composition at the phylum, family and genus levels. The abundance of Mitsuokella and Collinsella at genus level were significantly increased in PDCoV-PEDV co-infection piglets. Spearman's correlation analysis further suggested that there existed strong positive correlation between Mitsuokella and TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8 secretion, these two factors may together aggravating the small intestine pathological lesions. These results proved there existed obvious correlation between the disease severity caused by PDCoV-PEDV co-infection and intestinal microbial community.