FIRST REPORT OF BOVINE ROTAVIRUS AND BOVINE CORONAVIRUS SEROPREVALANCE IN GOATS IN TURKEY *

Various studies around the world have reported that antigen against Bovine rotavirus (BRV) had been detected in young goat’s gaita specimen Š3, 4, 5, 61. In addition, Sato et al. Š71, reported neutralising antibodies presence in goat blood sera against BRV. The bovine coronavirus (BCV), is an important cause of diarrhoea and is detected in feces of adult cattle with winter dysentery Š1, 81. Eisa et al. Š21, detected BCV antigen in young goat’s gaita. However, Sevinç et al.(2005) and Munoz et al. Š61, could not determine BCV antigen by ELISA in young goats. Establishing BCV seroprevalance in mature goats is the aim of this study. Furthermore, data that will be obtained during the study will present the BRV and BCV seroprevalance in a mature goat population in Turkey for the first time.

Sera samples / Uzorci seruma: In this study, goat blood sera specimen were collected from 107 healthy looking, ³1 year-old mature goats non-vaccinated against BRV and BCV, from five different provinces in Nothern Turkey.Sera were seperated from the collected blood specimens, inactivated at 56 o C for 30 minutes and stored at -20 o C until use in the test procedure.
Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) / ELISA test: Competitive-ELISA commercial test kits were used for BRV and BCV serodiagnosis of the animals tested (Rotavirus Elisa Kit Cat.Nr.Bio K 126 and Coronavirus Elisa Kit , Cat Nr.Bio K 127, Bio-X Diagnostics, Jemelle-Belgium).Tests were performed according to the manufacturer's recommendations.At the end of the tests, optical densities were measured with an ELISA reader (Daf, Italy) at 450 nm absorbance according to the instructions in the test procedure.
The mean optical densities of the positive and negative sera (OD pos and OD neg) and those of all the samples (OD samples) were calculated.For each tested sample and the positive serum, the percent inhibition was calculated (%inhib) by means of the following formulas: % inhibition of sample = Š(ODneg -ODsample) / ODneg¹x100 % inhibition of positive = Š(ODneg -ODpos) / ODneg¹x100 The results of the ELISA tests of goat blood sera revealed 41.12 % (44/107) and 82.24 % seropositivity against BCV and BRV.These data indicate that BRV infections are more frequently encountered compared to BCV infections in goats in the examined areas of Turkey.Distribution of the results according to the provinces are demonstrated in Table 1.

Results / Rezultati rada
According to our results, major bovine coronavirus positivity was determined 72.5% in the third province, while major positivity for bovine rotavirus was recorded for regions III, IV and V, with rates of 98.03%, 90%, and 100%, respectively.These results are the first data demonstrating the rotavirus and coronavirus frequency in goats in Turkey.
Considering that BRV infections create epidemics in newborns, the probable source of the widespread BRV antibody positivity (82.24%) obtained at the end of the study may be suggested as a BRV infection the goats had experienced when they were newborn.In addition, because it is demonstrated that BRV were more widespread in provinces III, IV and V compared to the rest, when the five provinces were seperately evaluated at the end of the study, it is concluded that BRV constitutes regional epidemics in Turkey.Since BRV are cattle infections, BRV antibodies determined in the study are accepted as proof of the spreading of the infection from cattle to goat.Proceeding from these data, the spreading of infection from infected goat to cattle must be considered, and goats must be investigated in detail as a possible source in BRV epidemics.
BCV antibody positivity determined in quite high rates (41.12%) at the end of the examinations may be an indicator of either a coronavirus diarrhea the goats had experienced in the newborn period, or a BCV infection (winter dysentery) they suffered when they were adults.The rare isolation of BCV antigene in young goats in the previous studies suggests that this infection is not common in young goats.This data strengthens the possibility that the goats had experienced the infection when they were adults.It is a known fact that BCV infections cause winter dysentery in adult cattle.Since BCV are cattle infections, BCV antibodies determined in the study are accepted as proof of the spreading of the infection from cattle to goat.Proceeding from this point, it is possible that BCV infections may also cause winter dysentery in adult goats, due to BCV.The role of mature goats in winter dysentery cases needs further detailed investigations.Besides, a significant advance in province III was detected as a result of the comparative BCV prevalance evaluation in the five provinces in which the study was carried out.This result indicates that BCV infections exist as regional epidemics in Turkey.
In conclusion, with this study BCV prevalance in adult goats is determined for the first time, and it is suggested that it may play a role in a goat winter dysentery epidemyc.Furthermore, important epidemiological information was secured on the distribution and infection spectrum of BCV and BRV infections in Turkey by the investigation of BCV and BRV antibodies in adult goat population.

Table 1 .
Distribution of goat blood sera according to the provinces / Tabela 1. Raspored seruma krvi koza prema provincijama Okur S. Gumusova et al:First report of bovine rotavirus and bovine coronavirus seroprevalance in goats in Turkey