Flies (Insecta, Diptera) collected in the environment of dairy farms as carriers of Rotavirus A and betacoronavirus

J Appl Microbiol. 2023 Mar 1;134(3):lxad020. doi: 10.1093/jambio/lxad020.

Abstract

Aims: We aimed to investigate the prevalence of rotavirus and coronavirus in dipterans that commonly inhabit the environment of dairy farms.

Methods and results: We collected 217 insect specimens from nine dairy farms, which were examined through hemi-nested RT-PCR followed by Sanger sequencing in search of VP1 and N genes for rotavirus and bovine coronavirus-BCoV, respectively. With a predominance of Muscidae (152/217 = 70%) 11 families of Diptera were identified. Rotavirus A (RVA) and betacoronavirus (BCoV) were detected in 14.7% (32/217) and 4.6% (10/217) of the dipterans, respectively. Sequencing of the amplicons was possible for 11.5% (25/217) of RVA and 0.5% (1/217) of BCoV, confirming the presence of these pathogens.

Conclusions: Our findings highlight the role of dipterans as carriers of RVA and BCoV of great relevance for public and animal health.

Keywords: BCoV; RVA; Vector-borne diseases; dairy cows; flying insects.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Betacoronavirus
  • Cattle
  • Cattle Diseases* / epidemiology
  • Diarrhea / epidemiology
  • Diptera*
  • Farms
  • Feces
  • Genotype
  • Insecta
  • Phylogeny
  • Rotavirus Infections*
  • Rotavirus* / genetics

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