First detection of canine parvovirus 2b DNA in a crab-eating fox pup (Cerdocyon thous, Linnaeus, 1766)

• Published in: Brazilian journal of microbiology 2021-03, Vol.52 (1), p.449-453
• Main Authors: Spera, Caroline Giuseppa, Lavorente, Fernanda Louise Pereira, Lorenzetti, Elis, de Calasans Marques, Gustavo, de Almeida Freitas, Luana, Martins, Maíra Bonamin, Teixeira, Carlos Roberto, Alfieri, Amauri Alcindo, Alfieri, Alice Fernandes
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino acid sequence; Amino acids; Anorexia; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Canine distemper; Cerdocyon thous; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Diarrhea; DNA; Eating; Fever; Food Microbiology; Fragments; Life Sciences; Medical Microbiology; Microbial Ecology; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbiology; Mycology; Nucleic acids; Nucleotides; Parvoviruses; Sequence analysis; Veterinary Microbiology - Short Communication; Viruses; Wild animals
• ISSN: 1517-8382; 1678-4405
• DOI: 10.1007/s42770-020-00389-9

The crab-eating fox ( Cerdocyon thous ) is a small wild mammal present in all Brazilian biomes and in some countries of South America. This study aimed to verify the involvement of viral infectious agents in the death of a wild crab-eating fox pup ( Cerdocyon thous ) in Brazil. The Center for Medicine and Research of Wild Animals of the Universidade Estadual Paulista received a free-living crab-eating fox aged approximately 21 days and apparently healthy. After 13 days, the animal presented anorexia, diarrhea, fever, prostration, and neurological signs progressing to death with an inconclusive diagnosis. In a retrospective study, tissue fragments stored at − 80 °C were used to identify nucleic acids from major canine viruses, such as canine parvovirus-2 (CPV-2), canine adenovirus A types 1 and 2, canid alphaherpesvirus 1, and canine distemper virus. The amplified product with the expected length for CPV-2 was obtained from the heart fragment. After performing nucleotide (nt) sequencing of the amplicon, it was possible to demonstrate that the crab-eating fox strain exhibited high (99.8%) nt identity with the CPV-2b prototype (CPV-39 strain). Additionally, deduced amino acid (aa) sequence analysis showed the GAT codon for the aa Asp (D) at position 426 of the CPV-2 viral protein VP2, which characterizes the subtype 2b. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this report describes the first detection of CPV-2b DNA in tissue fragments from a crab-eating fox.