Evolution of canine parvovirus in Argentina between years 2003 and 2010: CPV2c has become the predominant variant affecting the domestic dog population

Recent spreading of a divergent canine parvovirus type 2a (CPV-2a) strain in a CPV-2c homogenous population

Canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2), which causes acute hemorrhagic enteritis in dogs, is comprised of three antigenic variants (2a, 2b, and 2c) that are distributed worldwide with different frequencies. Variant prevalence was analyzed in 150 CPV-2-positive samples collected from the Uruguayan dog population in 2007-2010. Samples were analyzed with polymerase chain reaction, restriction fragment length polymorphism, and sequencing of the coding region for the largest and most variable loop of the VP2 capsid protein. CPV-2c was the only strain detected from 2007 to 2009. Uruguayan CPV-2c showed high homogeneity in both nucleotide and amino acid sequences, indicating a low level of genetic variability. In 2010, an unexpected epidemiological change occurred in Uruguay as a consequence of the appearance of a novel CPV-2a strain. This variant rapidly spread through the Uruguayan dog population and was detected in 20 of the 52 cases (38%) analyzed in 2010. CPV-2a sequences were identical in all field viruses analyzed, and in addition to the characteristic 426Asn residue, the sequences showed amino acid substitutions (267Tyr, 324Ile, and 440Ala) not observed in the Uruguayan CPV-2c. These data and the first detection in April 2010 suggest that the CPV-2a variant recently emerged in Uruguay and underwent clonal expansion. This observation is the first case in which a CPV-2a variant increased its frequency in a dog population where CPV-2c was prevalent. Our results emphasize the dynamic changes in CPV variants and highlight the importance of ongoing surveillance programs to provide a better understanding of virus epidemiology.

Study of canine parvovirus evolution: comparative analysis of full-length VP2 gene sequences from Argentina and international field strains

The continuous emergence of new strains of canine parvovirus (CPV), poorly protected by current vaccination, is a concern among breeders, veterinarians, and dog owners around the world. Therefore, the understanding of the genetic variation in emerging CPV strains is crucial for the design of disease control strategies, including vaccines. In this paper, we obtained the sequences of the full-length gene encoding for the main capsid protein (VP2) of 11 canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2) Argentine representative field strains, selected from a total of 75 positive samples studied in our laboratory in the last 9 years. A comparative sequence analysis was performed on 9 CPV-2c, one CPV-2a, and one CPV-2b Argentine strains with respect to international strains reported in the GenBank database. In agreement with previous reports, a high degree of identity was found among CPV-2c Argentine strains (99.6-100% and 99.7-100% at nucleotide and amino acid levels, respectively). However, the appearance of a new substitution in the 440 position (T440A) in four CPV-2c Argentine strains obtained after the year 2009 gives support to the variability observed for this position located within the VP2, three-fold spike. This is the first report on the genetic characterization of the full-length VP2 gene of emerging CPV strains in South America and shows that all the Argentine CPV-2c isolates cluster together with European and North American CPV-2c strains.