From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2006-12-06 23:08:30 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: ECE causitive agent(s) positively identified: Yes? No?
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "edward_lipinski" <edward_lipinski@...> wrote:
>
> Epizootic Catarrhal Enteritis ECE agent some years ago tentatively
> ID'd as viral particle of halo/corona structure in wetfield(?)
> microscopy.
>
> To date, any further definition of agent, modes of transmission or
> firm relationship to diet?
It is nt caused by diet.
The coronavirus has not only been verified, but it is even understood to a molecular level
which means that perhaps a vaccine or more targeted treatments can be devised.
Here are two studies since the original discovery by Dr. Bruce Williams (not tentative, just
not at first independently substantiated)
BEGIN QUOTES
Virology. 2006 May 25;349(1):164-74. Epub 2006 Feb 24.
Links
Molecular characterization of a novel coronavirus associated with epizootic catarrhal
enteritis (ECE) in ferrets.
Wise AG, Kiupel M, Maes RK.
Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health, Lansing, MI 48909, USA.
wise@dcpah.msu.edu
A novel coronavirus, designated as ferret enteric coronavirus (FECV), was identified in
feces of domestic ferrets clinically diagnosed with epizootic catarrhal enteritis (ECE).
Initially, partial sequences of the polymerase, spike, membrane protein, and nucleocapsid
genes were generated using coronavirus consensus PCR assays. Subsequently, the
complete sequences of the nucleocapsid gene and the last two open reading frames at the
3' terminus of the FECV genome were obtained. Phylogenetic analyses based on predicted
partial amino acid sequences of the polymerase, spike, and membrane proteins, and full
sequence of the nucleocapsid protein showed that FECV is genetically most closely related
to group 1 coronaviruses. FECV is more similar to feline coronavirus, porcine transmissible
gastroenteritis virus, and canine coronavirus than to porcine epidemic diarrhea virus and
human coronavirus 229E. Molecular data presented in this study provide the first genetic
evidence for a new coronavirus associated with clinical cases of ECE.
PMID: 16499943 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2000 Aug 15;217(4):526-30.
Links
Coronavirus-associated epizootic catarrhal enteritis in ferrets.
Williams BH, Kiupel M, West KH, Raymond JT, Grant CK, Glickman LT.
Department of Veterinary Pathology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC
20306-6000, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To characterize clinical signs and lesions and identify the etiologic agent
associated with epizootic catarrhal enteritis in domestic ferrets. DESIGN: Cross-sectional
study. ANIMALS: 119 ferrets with epizootic diarrhea of presumed viral cause and 5 control
ferrets. PROCEDURE: Clinical records and biopsy or necropsy specimens of ferrets with
presumed epizootic catarrhal enteritis were reviewed. Immunohistochemical staining for
coronavirus antigen was performed on paraffin-embedded tissues from approximately
10% of affected ferrets to identify viral antigen and determine its distribution.
Transmission electron microscopy was performed on fecal samples and sections of
jejunum. Virus isolation studies as well as immunofluorescent tests for other similar
viruses were performed. RESULTS: Characteristic microscopic lesions consistent with
intestinal coronavirus infection (vacuolar degeneration and necrosis of villus enterocytes;
villus atrophy, fusion, and blunting; and lymphocytic enteritis) were consistently detected
in affected ferrets. Coronavirus particles were identified in feces and jejunal enterocytes by
use of transmission electron microscopy. Immunohistochemical staining of jejunal
sections revealed coronavirus antigens. Antigen staining was not detected in healthy
ferrets or ferrets with other gastrointestinal tract diseases. Virus isolation was
unsuccessful, and other similar viruses were not detected. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL
RELEVANCE: Results strongly implicate a coronavirus as the causative agent of epizootic
catarrhal enteritis in ferrets. Diagnosis may be made on the basis of a combination of
historical, clinical, and microscopic findings.
PMID: 10953717 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
END QUOTES
Related topic: On Sunday just past there was a lecture for veterinary pathologists on the
new coronavirus, the one which behaves like Feline Infectious Peritonitis. That one may be
FIP, may be mutated from FIP, or may be mutated from ECE. (All of those are also related
to EGE, a mik corona virus which behaves similarly to ECE but more severely, if memory
serves.)
Sukie (not a vet)
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