Divergent Astrovirus Associated with Neurologic Disease in Cattle

• Main Authors: Linlin Li, Santiago Diab, Sabrina McGraw, Bradd Barr, Ryan Traslavina, Robert Higgins, Tom Talbot, Pat Blanchard, Guillermo Rimoldi, Elizabeth Fahsbender, Brady Page, Tung Gia Phan, Chunlin Wang, Xutao Deng, Patricia Pesavento, Eric Delwart
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2013-09-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: Astrovirus; brain; neurologic disease; bovine; cattle; next-generation sequencing
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/19/9/13-0682_article
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059

Using viral metagenomics of brain tissue from a young adult crossbreed steer with acute onset of neurologic disease, we sequenced the complete genome of a novel astrovirus (BoAstV-NeuroS1) that was phylogenetically related to an ovine astrovirus. In a retrospective analysis of 32 cases of bovine encephalitides of unknown etiology, 3 other infected animals were detected by using PCR and in situ hybridization for viral RNA. Viral RNA was restricted to the nervous system and detected in the cytoplasm of affected neurons within the spinal cord, brainstem, and cerebellum. Microscopically, the lesions were of widespread neuronal necrosis, microgliosis, and perivascular cuffing preferentially distributed in gray matter and most severe in the cerebellum and brainstem, with increasing intensity caudally down the spinal cord. These results suggest that infection with BoAstV-NeuroS1 is a potential cause of neurologic disease in cattle.