Pneumovirus in Dogs with Acute Respiratory Disease | CDC EID

EID Journal Home > Volume 16, Number 6–June 2010

Volume 16, Number 6–June 2010
Dispatch
Pneumovirus in Dogs with Acute Respiratory Disease
Randall W. Renshaw, Nancy C. Zylich, Melissa A. Laverack, Amy L. Glaser, and Edward J. Dubovi
Author affiliation: Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

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Abstract
To determine which respiratory viruses circulate among confined dogs, we analyzed nasal and pharyngeal swab specimens from shelter dogs with acute respiratory disease. An unknown virus was isolated. Monoclonal antibody testing indicated that it was probably a pneumovirus. PCR and sequence analysis indicated that it was closely related to murine pneumovirus.
Domestic dogs housed in close confinement, as in kennels or animal shelters, are often involved in outbreaks of acute respiratory disease (1,2). To determine which viruses are associated with these outbreaks, we studied 200 dogs in 2 animal shelters in the northeastern United States during 2008–2009.

The Study
Nasal and pharyngeal swab specimens were collected from the dogs, and swab eluate extracts were prepared. Pooled extracts were added to monolayer cultures of canine A72 cells (American Type Culture Collection, CRL-1542). After 3 passages in culture, cells in some of the flasks showed subtle cytopathic changes. After continued passage, small foci of rounded cells developed, and rapid and progressive cell death throughout the flask ensued in a pattern uncharacteristic of the viruses commonly isolated from dogs. Testing these cultures with a panel of diagnostic reagents specific for common canine respiratory agents failed to identify a known virus. Immunofluorescence assays (IFAs) ultimately detected 13 positive cultures over a 4-month period when a monoclonal antibody (MAb) pool against human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) (VP-R151, Vector Laboratories, Burlingame, CA, USA) was used. We have commonly used this antibody preparation to detect bovine RSV. The staining pattern included filamentous membrane-bound and free-floating virions and cytoplasmic inclusions, typical of the pattern in RSV-infected cells.

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Pneumovirus in Dogs with Acute Respiratory Disease | CDC EID