RT-qPCR assay for detection of mink astrovirus in outbreaks of diarrhea on Danish mink farms

Sofie Barsøe, Karin Ullman, Mikael Leijon, Kjell Olof Hedlund, Jonas Klingström, Louise Iuel Krarup, Lars Andresen, Michelle Lauge Quaade, Anne Sofie Hammer*

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Diarrhea in mink kits is a major cause of disease and mortality in the mink production. The etiology remains unknown in most outbreaks due to a lack of diagnostic assays. In the current study we present an RT-qPCR method to detect mink astrovirus in fecal samples from mink kits with diarrhea. All sampled animals were classified based on age and patoanatomical evaluation as having pre-weaning diarrhea, diarrhea in the growth period or as having no macroscopic signs of diarrhea. Fecal samples were analyzed for MiAstV with RT-qPCR, next generation sequencing and electron microscopy in parallel. Mink astrovirus was detected with RT-qPCR in 92 out of 203 samples. This detection was confirmed by next generation sequencing in a high proportion of samples (22/27), and by visualization of astrovirus particles with EM in some of the samples. Mink astrovirus was highly prevalent (68%) among kits in the outbreaks of pre-weaning diarrhea, in particular outbreaks from May, while less prevalent in outbreaks in June. Mink astrovirus was detected in outbreaks of diarrhea in the growth period, though in a much lesser extent than in the pre-weaning period. The role of mink astrovirus in the diarrhea disease complex of mink remain to be investigated, and for that purpose this sensitive and robust RT-qPCR can be a valuable tool in the future.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0252022
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume16
Issue number5
ISSN1932-6203
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2021 Barsøe et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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