Causative agents and epidemiology of diarrhea in Korean native calves

Sung-Hwan Lee; Ha-Young Kim; Eun Wha Choi; Doo Kim

doi:10.4142/jvs.2019.20.e64

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Lee, Kim, Choi, and Kim: Causative agents and epidemiology of diarrhea in Korean native calves

Original Article Internal Medicine

J Vet Sci 2019;20(6):e64.

Published online: 4 November 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4142/jvs.2019.20.e64

Causative agents and epidemiology of diarrhea in Korean native calves

Sung-Hwan Lee¹, Ha-Young Kim², Eun Wha Choi³, Doo Kim^1,^*

¹Laboratory of Large Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine & Institute of Veterinary Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea

²Animal Disease Diagnostic Division, Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, Gimcheon 39660, Korea

³Department of Veterinary Clinical Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine & Institute of Veterinary Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea

^*Corresponding authors: Eun Wha Choi Department of Veterinary Clinical Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine & Institute of Veterinary Science, Kangwon National University, 1 Kangwondaehak-gil, Chuncheon 24341, Korea. E-mail: ewchoi@kangwon.ac.kr

Received 5 July 2019 Revised 3 September 2019 Accepted 15 September 2019

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Calf diarrhea caused by infectious agents is associated with economic losses in the cattle industry. The purpose of this study was to identify the causative agents and epidemiological characteristics of diarrhea in Korean native calves (KNC). In total, 207 diarrheal KNC aged less than 7 months were investigated. Fecal samples collected from the rectum were examined for causative agents using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or real-time PCR and the number of oocysts were counted. Fourteen causative agents were detected from 164 of the 207 diarrheal KNC. Rotavirus was the most common agent (34.8%), followed by Eimeria spp. (31.7%), Escherichia coli (22.0%), Giardia spp. (14.0%), Clostridium difficile (9.8%), bovine viral diarrhea virus (8.5%), coronavirus (7.9%), Cryptosporidium spp. (7.3%), torovirus (6.7%), parvovirus (5.5%), norovirus (4.9%), kobuvirus (1.8%), adenovirus (1.2%), and Salmonella spp. (0.6%). About 95 (57.9%) of 164 calves were infected with a single causative agent and 42.1% were infected by multiple agents. No significant difference was observed in mortality between calves infected with a single agent and multiple agents. The occurrence of diarrhea caused by rotavirus, Eimeria spp., kobuvirus, and Giardia spp. was significantly different based on onset age, and the prevalence of diarrhea caused by rotavirus or C. difficile was significantly different between seasons. This study help the understanding of KNC diarrhea for the development of an effective strategy for disease prevention and control, especially in Eastern provinces of South Korea.

Keywords: Diarrhea, calf, Korean native calves, causative agents, prevalence

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Table 1.

Prevalence of calves infected with a single causative agent (n = 95) among diarrheal Korean native calves (n = 164)

Causative agents	No. of calves	Prevalence (%)
Virus
Rotavirus	28	17.1
Coronavirus	5	3.0
Parvovirus	5	3.0
BVDV	3	1.8
Norovirus	3	1.8
Torovirus	3	1.8
Kobuvirus	1	0.6
Subtotal	48	29.1
Bacteria
E. coli	13	7.9
C. difficile	4	2.4
Salmonella spp.	1	0.6
Subtotal	18	10.9
Protozoa
Eimeria spp.	20	12.2
Giardia spp.	8	4.9
Cryptosporidium spp.	1	0.6
Subtotal	29	17.7
Total	95	57.9

BVDV, bovine viral diarrhea virus.

Table 2.

Prevalence of calves infected with mixed causative agents (n = 69) among diarrheal Korean native calves (n = 164)

Mixed form	No.	Causative agents	Prevalence (%)
Double	7	E. coli, Eimeria spp.
	6	Rotavirus, coronavirus
	5	Rotavirus, E. coli
	5	Rotavirus, C. difficile
	3	Rotavirus, Eimeria spp.
	3	Rotavirus, Giardia spp.
	3	Eimeria spp., Giardia spp.
	2	Rotavirus, BVDV
	2	Coronavirus, Eimeria spp.
	2	Norovirus, E. coli
	2	Torovirus, E. coli
	2	Eimeria spp., Cryptosporidium spp.
	1	Rotavirus, parvovirus
	1	Rotavirus, norovirus
	1	BVDV, C. difficile
	1	BVDV, Eimeria spp.
	1	Parvovirus, norovirus
	1	Parvovirus, torovirus
	1	Parvovirus, Eimeria spp.
	1	Kobuvirus, Eimeria spp.
	1	Kobuvirus, Giardia spp.
	1	Torovirus, Eimeria spp.
	1	C. difficile, Giardia spp.
Subtotal	53		32.3
Triple	2	BVDV, Eimeria spp., Cryptosporidium spp.
	1	BVDV, adenovirus, Eimeria spp.
	1	BVDV, E. coli, C. difficile
	1	Rotavirus, torovirus, E. coli
	1	Rotavirus, E. coli, C. difficile
	1	Adenovirus, torovirus, Eimeria spp.
	1	Torovirus, E. coli, C. difficile
	1	Eimeria spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia spp.
Subtotal	9		5.5
Quadruple	3	BVDV, Eimeria spp, Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia spp.
	1	Rotavirus, torovirus, E coli, Cryptosporidium spp.
	1	E. coli, C. difficile, Eimeria spp., Giardia spp.
	1	C. difficile, Eimeria spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia spp.
Subtotal	6		3.7
Quintuple	1	Norovirus, E. coli, Eimeria spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia spp.
Subtotal	1		0.6
Total	69		42.1

BVDV, bovine viral diarrhea virus.

Table 3.

Prevalence of calves infected with a single or multiple causative agents (n = 257) among diarrheal Korean native calves (n = 164)

Causative agents	No. of tested causative agents	No. of calves with single agent	No. of calves with mixed agents
Virus
Rotavirus	57	28	29
BVDV	14	3	11
Coronavirus	13	5	8
Torovirus	11	3	8
Parvovirus	9	5	4
Norovirus	8	3	5
Kobuvirus	3	1	2
Adenovirus	2	0	2
Subtotal (%)	117 (45.5)	48 (18.7)	69 (26.8)
Bacteria
E. coli	36	13	23
C. difficile	16	4	12
Salmonella spp.	1	1	0
Subtotal (%)	53 (20.6)	18 (7.0)	35 (13.6)
Protozoa
Eimeria spp.	52	20	32
Giardia spp.	23	8	15
Cryptosporidium spp.	12	1	11
Subtotal (%)	87 (33.9)	29 (11.3)	58 (22.6)
Total (%)	257 (100.0)	95(37.0)	162 (63.0)

BVDV, bovine viral diarrhea virus.

Table 4.

Distribution of major causative agents according to onset age of diarrhea

Onset age	Rota	Corona	BVDV	Adeno	Parvo	Kobu	Noro	Toro	E. coli	Salmonella	C. difficile	Eimeria	Cryptosporidium	Giardia
< 1 weeks	22	4	3	0	1	0	4	4	10	1	4	0	1	0
(n = 38)	38.6%	30.8%	21.4%	0.0%	11.1%	0.0%	50.0%	36.4%	27.8%	100.0%	25.0%	0.0%	8.3%	0.0%
1–2 weeks	17	3	1	0	1	1	2	2	7	0	3	0	1	2
(n = 26)	29.8%	23.1%	7.1%	0.0%	11.1%	33.3%	25.0%	18.2%	19.4%	0.0%	18.8%	0.0%	8.3%	8.7%
3–4 weeks	8	1	5	1	4	0	0	0	6	0	5	12	4	5
(n = 30)	14.0%	7.7%	35.7%	50.0%	44.4%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	16.7%	0.0%	31.3%	23.1%	33.3%	21.7%
5–6 weeks	7	1	2	1	1	0	2	2	5	0	2	19	4	7
(n = 30)	12.3%	7.7%	14.3%	50.0%	11.1%	0.0%	25.0%	18.2%	13.9%	0.0%	12.5%	36.5%	33.3%	30.4%
7–8 weeks	3	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	5	2	6
(n = 14)	5.3%	7.7%	14.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	2.8%	0.0%	12.5%	9.6%	16.7%	26.1%
9–10 weeks	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	4	0	0	7	0	3
(n = 12)	0.0%	7.7%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	66.7%	0.0%	9.1%	11.1%	0.0%	0.0%	13.5%	0.0%	13.0%
11–12 weeks	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	3	0	0
(n = 3)	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	2.8%	0.0%	0.0%	5.8%	0.0%	0.0%
≥ 13 weeks	0	2	1	0	2	0	0	2	2	0	0	6	0	0
(n = 11)	0.0%	15.4%	7.1%	0.0%	22.2%	0.0%	0.0%	18.2%	5.6%	0.0%	0.0%	11.5%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	57	13	14	2	9	3	8	11	36	1	16	52	12	23
(n = 164)	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Pearson's χ², p	< 0.001	0.732	0.608	0.834	0.208	0.014	0.444	0.464	0.736	0.852	0.634	< 0.001	0.337	0.002
Linear by linear association	< 0.001	0.963	0.887	0.922	0.422	0.261	0.052	0.873	0.519	0.244	0.164	< 0.001	0.920	0.050
Onset age (mean ± standard deviation, days)	4	44.0 ± 62.7	30.1 ± 31.6	5	58.4 ± 78.2		13.4 ± 11.9	48.9 ± 67.8	33.1 ± 45.3		20.1 ± 15.0 5	57.0 ± 49.7	28.3 ± 13.1	38.1 ± 15.0
Onset age (range, days)		2–180	3–129		7–210		3–34	3–180	3–210		3–55	20–210	7–52	10–70
Single infection, onset age (range, days)	3–45	2–180	3–129		16–210		3–12	7–180	5–60		15–55	22–210	7	13–64

BVDV, bovine viral diarrheea virus.

Table 5.

Seasonal distribution of causative agents (n = 257) detected in diarrheal Korean native calves (n = 164)

Causative agents	Spring (Mar–May)	Summer (Jun–Aug)	Fall (Sep–Nov)	Winter (Dec–Feb)	p value
Rotavirus	33 (20.1)	2 (1.2)	6 (3.7)	16 (9.8)	0.017
Coronavirus	5 (3.0)	0 (0.0)	1 (0.6)	7 (4.3)	0.250
BVDV	3 (1.8)	4 (2.4)	0 (0.0)	7 (4.3)	0.061
Adenovirus	1 (0.6)	1 (0.6)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0.417
Parvovirus	4 (2.4)	1 (0.6)	0 (0.0)	4 (2.4)	0.745
Kobuvirus	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	1 (0.6)	2 (1.2)	0.143
Norovirus	1 (0.6)	1 (0.6)	0 (0.0)	6 (3.7)	0.058
Torovirus	5 (3.0)	0 (0.0)	2 (1.2)	4 (2.4)	0.361
E. coli	20 (12.2)	6 (3.7)	3 (1.8)	7 (4.3)	0.310
Salmonella spp.	0 (0.0)	1 (0.6)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0.090
C. difficile	7 (4.3)	3 (1.8)	5 (3.0)	1 (0.6)	0.001
Eimeria spp.	19 (11.6)	10 (6.1)	4 (2.4)	19 (11.6)	0.270
Cryptosporidium spp.	2 (1.2)	1 (0.6)	1 (0.6)	8 (4.9)	0.059
Giardia spp.	9 (5.5)	2 (1.2)	3 (1.8)	9 (5.5)	0.570
Total	109 (66.5)	32 (16.5)	26 (8.5)	90 (54.9)

Values are presented as number of patients (%). The χ² test was used to analyse the differences in the prevalence of diarrhea caused by each causative agent across seasons.

BVDV, bovine viral diarrhea virus.

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