key: cord-0976630-fpn9064t
authors: TZIPORI, S.; SMITH, MEGAN; MAKIN, T.; McCAUGHAN, C.
title: ENTERIC CORONAVIRUS‐LIKE PARTICLES IN SHEEP
date: 2008-03-10
journal: Aust Vet J
DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-0813.1978.tb02478.x
sha: 647cf660bfb2143c0ada0d1ee6b8f815e8cd17ae
doc_id: 976630
cord_uid: fpn9064t

nan

Glucose synthesis rates were significantly higher in both groups of biotin-treated ewes after 48 h starvation, the differences being 38% in the Merinos (P<O.OOI) and 14vo in the crossbred sheep (P<0.05).

Pregnancy was more advanced in the Merino ewes injected with biotin but the reverse was the case with the crossbred ewes. The demand for glucose by the foetus increases as pregnancy advances (Kronfeld 1958) . and although a pregnant sheep on a fixed feed inrake increases its glucose entry rate as it approaches term, in the same sheep starved for four days there were no differences in glucose entry rates at any period of pregnancy (Steel and Leng 1968). The differences observed in the animals in this study are therefore unaffected by the time from lambing especially since at a maximum the mean difference was only about 8 days. Thercfore it seems reasonable to suggest that rhe biotin increased glucose synthesis rates in both breeds of animals when starved for 48 h.

The results suggest that biotin may become a factor limiting the rate of gluconeogenesis in fasted pregnant sheep which have been on a high plane of nutrition. This may indicate a rapid loss of biotin in the tissues of pregnant sheep, particularly after the onset of starvation. Further studies are planned on the effects of biotin on glucose metabolism and the incidence of pregnancy toxaemia.

We sheep on a property in Gippsland, Victoria, was investigated during November 1977. Approximately 10% of a flock of 1500 were affected. Although the faeces were fluid in nature and unlikely. The sheep had been drenched with an anthelmintic thiophanate* 14 days before the outbreak and the faecal samples examined by light microscopy did not contain nematode eggs. A total of 8 samples (including 3 samples collected from sheep per rectum and 5 freshly deposited samples obtained from the paddock) were examined and no recognised pathogenic bacteria were isolated. However, when faecal homogenates were pelleted by ultracentrifugation and examined by electromicroscopy, coronavirus-like particles were observed in one of the samples The isolation of coronaviruses from sheep has not previously been reported although there are a number of overseas reports that this group of viruses can cause serious diseases in young animals of other species. These diseases include transmissible gastroenteritis in pigs (Bruner and Gillespie 1973) and neonatal diarrhoea in calves (Stair et a1 1972) . Morphologically similar viruses are also suspected to cause diarrhoea in foals (Bass and Sharpee 1975) , dogs (Takeuchi et a1 1976) and possibly man (Caul et a1 1975; Schnagl et a1 1977) . This isolate from sheep is believed to be the first reported enteric coronavirus isolated from animals in Australia.

It is uncertain at this stage whether the virus was aetiologically associated with the diarrhoea in the weaner sheep. Work is in progress to determine the pathogenicity of this agent for sheep 

Hagan's Infectious Diseases of Domestic Animals, 6th edn