Circovirus in Tissues of Dogs with Vasculitis and Hemorrhage

• Main Authors: Linlin Li, Sabrina McGraw, Kevin Zhu, Christian M. Leutenegger, Stanley L. Marks, Steven Kubiski, Patricia Gaffney, Florante N. Dela Cruz Jr, Chunlin Wang, Eric Delwart, Patricia A. Pesavento
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2013-04-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: circovirus; vasculitis; deep sequencing; viruses; dogs; hemorrhagic gastroenteritis
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/19/4/12-1390_article
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059

We characterized the complete genome of a novel dog circovirus (DogCV) from the liver of a dog with severe hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, vasculitis, and granulomatous lymphadenitis. DogCV was detected by PCR in fecal samples from 19/168 (11.3%) dogs with diarrhea and 14/204 (6.9%) healthy dogs and in blood from 19/409 (3.3%) of dogs with thrombocytopenia and neutropenia, fever of unknown origin, or past tick bite. Co-infection with other canine pathogens was detected for 13/19 (68%) DogCV-positive dogs with diarrhea. DogCV capsid proteins from different dogs varied by up to 8%. In situ hybridization and transmission electron microscopy detected DogCV in the lymph nodes and spleens of 4 dogs with vascular compromise and histiocytic inflammation. The detection of a circovirus in tissues of dogs expands the known tropism of these viruses to a second mammalian host. Our results indicate that circovirus, alone or in co-infection with other pathogens, might contribute to illness and death in dogs.