Table_1_Astrovirus Outbreak in an Animal Shelter Associated With Feline Vomiting.xlsx

An outbreak of cat vomiting was observed in an animal shelter. Testing for known enteric feline pathogens did not identify a causative agent. Viral metagenomics on four mini pools of feces from cases and controls housed in the same area revealed the presence of feline astrovirus in all pools. Also found with fewer reads in one pool each were rotavirus I, carnivore bocaparvovirus 3, norovirus (NoV) GVI, and a novel dependovirus. The genome of the highly prevalent astrovirus was sequenced and classified into mamastrovirus species two, also known as feline astrovirus. Real-time RT-PCR on longitudinally acquired fecal samples from 11 sick cases showed 10 (91%) to be shedding astrovirus for as long as 19 days. Affected cats were sick for an average of 9.8 days, with a median of 2.5 days (range = 1–31 days). Unaffected control cats housed in the same areas during the outbreak showed five out of nine (56%) to also be shedding astrovirus. Feline fecal samples collected from the same animal shelter ~1 year before (n = 8) and after (n = 10) showed none to be shedding astrovirus, indicating that this virus was temporarily associated with the vomiting outbreak and is not part of the commensal virome for cats in this shelter. Together with the absence of highly prevalent known pathogens, our results support a role for feline astrovirus infection, as well as significant asymptomatic shedding, in an outbreak of contagious feline vomiting.

在一所动物收容所中观察到猫只出现呕吐症状。对已知的肠道猫类病原体进行检测并未确定病因。通过对来自病例组和对照组、在同一区域饲养的猫只的四个粪便迷你池进行病毒宏基因组学分析，发现所有池中均存在猫星状病毒。此外，在其中一个池中，还检测到轮状病毒I型、食肉动物博卡帕罗病毒3型、诺如病毒（NoV）GVI型和一种新型依赖病毒，但读数较少。对高度流行的星状病毒的基因组进行测序并分类为哺乳动物星状病毒属二种，亦称猫星状病毒。对11个病例纵向采集的粪便样本进行实时反转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）检测，结果显示10例（91%）的猫持续排毒19天之久。受影响的猫只平均患病时间为9.8天，中位数为2.5天（范围1-31天）。在同一爆发期间，同一区域内的未受影响的对照组猫只中，有5只（56%）也呈现排毒现象。在爆发前约1年及爆发后（n = 8和n = 10）从同一动物收容所收集的猫粪便样本中，均未检测到排毒的星状病毒，这表明该病毒临时与呕吐症状相关联，并非该收容所猫只共生病毒库的一部分。结合高度流行的已知病原体的缺失，我们的研究结果支持猫星状病毒感染，以及显著的隐性排毒，在传染性猫呕吐爆发中发挥了一定作用。