Detection of old and recently discovered parvoviruses in apparently healthy dogs in Campania region, Italy

In addition to the more famous canine parvovirus 2 (CPV-2), the Parvoviridae family includes other viruses able to infect dogs [canine chaphamaparvovirus (CaChPV), canine bocavirus-1 (CBoV-1), and canine bufavirus (CBuV)], whose etiological role is still controversial (mostly identified in animals with diarrhea but also detected in asymptomatic animals). The aim of this work was to evaluate the shedding of these common and recently discovered viruses in the dog population from the Campania region (Italy). A total of 170 feces from apparently healthy dogs were sampled and tested with specific real-time PCR. The prevalences obtained are reported below: 6.5 % (11/117) for CPV-2, 4.1 % (7/170) for CaChPV, 11.8 % (20/170) for CBoV-1, and 7.6 % (13/170) for CBuV. The analysis of risk factors found a greater risk of parvoviruses detection for animals of stray origin, with an altered fecal score, and those living outdoors. Considering single parvoviruses, we found a significantly higher prevalence of CBoV in animals with impaired fecal scores and in dogs living outdoors. The detection of CaChPV in fecal samples was correlated to the origin (stray) of the dog.

We also evaluated the changes in the fecal microbiota in positive dogs, observing a reduction of Bacteroides and an increase of Enterobacteriaceae (up to 70 %) in CPV-2-positive dogs. Only minor changes, however, were observed in animals positive for other parvoviruses.

Moreover, we established that the shedding of these parvoviruses did not affect the result of rapid direct assays commonly used in clinical routine diagnostics for CPV-2.