Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cross-sectional study on rotavirus A (RVA) infection and assessment of risk factors in pre- and post-weaning piglets in India

  • Short Communications
  • Published:
Tropical Animal Health and Production Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Rotavirus A (RVA) infections are known to retard the piglets’ growth and minimize the profit to the pig farming community. Between August 2014 and July 2017, in a cross-sectional study, we surveyed 13 organized pig farms located in the eight states of India representing northern, north-eastern and southern regions, to identify the risk factors associated with RVA infection in pre- and post-weaning piglets. Faecal samples (n = 411) comprising of non-diarrhoeic (n = 320) and diarrhoeic (n = 91) were collected and screened for RVA infection using VP6 gene-based RT-PCR. RVA positivity of 52.5% (168/320) in non-diarrhoeic and 59.3% (54/91) in diarrhoeic piglets was noticed. Further, 53.3% (120/225) and 54.8% (102/186) of the samples from pre- and post-weaned samples were positive for RVA, respectively. To note, no statistically significant association was noticed between RVA infection, health and weaning status. Additionally, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted to identify the risk factors for RVA infections in piglets. The analysis revealed that good ventilation (OR 0.2, 95% CI 0.15–0.39), use of deep well water (OR 0.2, 95% CI 0.13–0.43) and feeding of commercial feed (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.18–0.41) were associated with reduced risk of RVA infection compared with poor ventilation, use of shallow well water and feeding of own milled feed, respectively. Contrarily, mixed farms (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.26–3.37), use of heater or cooler (OR 5.9, 95% CI 3.74–9.30), sheds in different elevation (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.20–5.01) and weekly and occasional use of disinfectant for surface cleaning (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.12–2.96) were associated with higher RVA infection. Mitigating the risk factors might help in better health management of piglets and increase the economic return to pig farming community in the country.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

References

  • Amimo, J.O., Otieno, T.F., Okoth, E., Onono, J.O., Bett, B., 2017. Risk factors for rotavirus infection in pigs in Busia and Teso subcounties, Western Kenya. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 49, 105–112.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barman N N, Sarma D K and Penseart M B., 1998. Detection of swine rotavirus and transmissible gastroenteritis virus in piglets with diarrhoea by sandwich ELISA. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences , 68(9), 886–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barman, N.N., Barman, B., Sarma, D.K., Pensaert, M.B., 2003. Prevalence of rotavirus, transmissible gastroenteritis virus and porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus antibodies in pigs of Assam, India. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences, 73, 576–578.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang, K.O., Kim, Y., Saif, L.J., 2012. Rotavirus and reovirus. In: J. J. Zimmerman, L. A. Karriker, A. Ramirez, K. J. Schwartz and G. W. Stevenson (eds), Diseases of Swine., 10th edn., pp. 621–634. Wiley-Blackwell, West Sussex, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chauhan, A., Patel, B.H.M., Maurya, R., Kumar, S., Shukla, S., Subodh, K., 2016. Pig production system as a source of livelihood in Indian scenario: An overview. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 5, 2089–2096.

    Google Scholar 

  • Das, S., Handique, P., 2016. Detection of porcine rotaviruses group A in free ranging and farm pig population of North East India. International Journal of Biotechnology & Biochemistry, 2, 62–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dash, S.K., Tewari, A., Krishna Kumar, Goel, A., Bhatia, A.K., 2011. Detection of Rotavirus from diarrhoeic cow calves in Mathura, India. Veterinary World, 4,554–556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dubal, Z.B., Bhilegaonkar, K.N., Barbuddhe, S.B., Kolhe, R.P., Kaur, S., Rawat, S., Nambiar, P., Karunakaran, M., 2013. Prevalence and genotypic (G and P) determination of porcine group A rotavirus from different regions of India. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 45,609–615.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fairbrother, J.M., Nadeau, E., Gyles, C.L., 2005. Escherichia coli in post weaning diarrhea in pigs: an update on bacterial types, pathogenesis, and prevention strategies. Animal Health Research Reviews, 6, 17–39.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • FAO. 2018. http://www.fao.org/docrep/s1250e/s1250e10.htm accessed on 8th August, 2018.

  • Fitzgerald, G.R., Barker, T., Welter, M.W., Welter, C.J., 1988. Diarrhea in young pigs: comparing the incidence of the five most common infectious agents. Veterinary Medicine Food Animal Practice, 1, 80–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garam, G., Bora, D., Borah, B., Bora, M., Das, S., 2016. Seroprevalence of Rotavirus infection in pig population of Arunachal Pradesh. Veterinary World, 9(11), 1300–1304.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gatti, M.S., Ferraz, M.M., Racz, M.L., de Castro, A.F., 1993. Rotavirus excretion in naturally infected pigs with and without diarrhea. Veterinary microbiology, 37, 187–190.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hampson, D.J., 1994. Post weaning Escherichia coli diarrhoea in Pigs. In Escherichia coli in domestic animals and humans Edited by: Gyles CL, Wallinford UK. CAB International. 171-191.

  • Jones, H.C., Cortes, H., Gaggero, A., Levican, J., Castillo-Ruiz, M., Schlotterbeck, T., San Martín, R., 2017.High genetic diversity of species A rotaviruses detected in swine farms in Chile. Journal of General Virology, 98, 539–547.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kattoor, J.J., Saurabh, S., Malik, Y.S., Sircar, S., Dhama, K., Ghosh, S., Bányai, K., Kobayashi, N., Singh, R.K., 2017. Unexpected detection of porcine rotavirus C strains carrying human origin VP6 gene. Veterinary Quarterly, 37(1), 252–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kattoor, J.J., Sharad, S., Sircar, S., Vinodhkumar, O.R., De, U.K., Dhama, K., Ghosh, S., Singh, RK., Malik, YS., 2018. Frequency distribution of porcine rotavirus-A and capsid protein gene based sequence and phylogenetic analysis indicating marked heterogeneity among prevailing strains, India. Virus Disease, 29, 96–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keesing, F., Holt, R.D. and Ostfeld, R.S., 2006. Effects of species diversity on disease risk. Ecology letters, 9, 485–498.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kelkar, S., 1993. Development of indigenous ELISA for rotavirus diagnosis & its comparison with commercial kit. Indian Journal of Medical Research, 97, 93–101.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kiulia, N., Hofstra, N., Vermeulen, L., Obara, M., Medema, G. and Rose, J., 2015. Global occurrence and emission of rotaviruses to surface waters. Pathogens, 4, 229–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kusumakar, A.L., Savita, Malik, Y.S., Minakshi Prasad, G., 2010. Genomic diversity among group A rotavirus from diarrheic children, piglets, buffalo and cow calves of Madhya Pradesh. Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology, 50, 83–88.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Madec, F., Bridoux, N., Bounaix, S., Cariolet, R., Duval-Iflah, Y., Hampson DJ, et al., 2000. Experimental models of porcine post-weaning colibacillosis and their relationship to post-weaning diarrhea and digestive disorders as encountered in the field. Veterinary microbiology, 72l, 295–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marthaler, D., Homwong, N., Rossow, K., Culhane, M., Goyal, S., Collins, J., Matthijnssens, J., Ciarlet, M., 2014. Rapid detection and high occurrence of porcine rotavirus A, B, and C by RT-qPCR in diagnostic samples. Journal of virological methods , 209,30–34.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mondal, A., Sharma, K., Malik, Y.P.S., Joardar, S.N., 2013. Detection of group A rotavirus in faeces of diarrhoeic bovine porcine and human population from eastern India by reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction. Advances in Animal and Veterinary Sciences, 1, 18–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moxley, R.A. and Duhamel, G.E., 1999. Comparative pathology of bacterial enteric diseases of swine. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 473, 83–101.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nath A J, Das S K, Barman N N and Bora M. 2004. Seroprevalence of rotavirus infection in pigs of different managemental conditions of Assam. Indian Journal of Comparative Microbiology Immunology and Infectious Diseases 25, 84–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nirupama, K.R., Vinodh Kumar OR., Pruthvishree, B.S., Sinha, D.K., Murugan, M.S., Krishnaswamy, N. and Singh, B.R., 2018. Molecular characterisation of blaOXA-48 carbapenemase-, extended-spectrum β-lactamase-and shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli isolated from farm piglets in India. Journal of global antimicrobial resistance, 13, 201–205.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pruthvishree, B.S., Vinodh Kumar, O.R., Sinha, D.K., Malik, Y.P.S., Dubal, Z.B., Desingu, P.A., Shivakumar, M., Krishnaswamy, N. and Singh, B.R., 2017. Spatial molecular epidemiology of carbapenem-resistant and New Delhi metallo beta-lactamase (bla NDM) producing Escherichia coli in the piglets of organized farms in India. Journal of applied microbiology, 122, 1537–1546.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rajendran, P. and Kang, G., 2014. Molecular epidemiology of rotavirus in children and animals and characterization of an unusual G10P [15] strain associated with bovine diarrhea in south India. Vaccine, 32, A89-A94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Theuns, S., Vyt, P., Desmarets, L.M., Roukaerts, I.D., Heylen, E., Zeller, M., Matthijnssens, J., Nauwynck, H.J., 2016. Presence and characterization of pig group A and C rotaviruses in feces of Belgian diarrheic suckling piglets. Virus Research, 213, 172–183.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • VinodhKumar, O.R., Singh, B.R., Sinha, D.K., Pruthvishree, B.S., Tamta, S., Dubal, Z.B., Karthikeyan, R., Rupner, R.N. and Malik, Y.S., 2019. Risk factor analysis, antimicrobial resistance and pathotyping of Escherichia coli associated with pre-and post-weaning piglet diarrhoea in organised farms, India. Epidemiology & Infection, 147,1–8.

  • Vlasova, A.N., Amimo, J.O., Saif, L.J., 2017. Porcine rotaviruses: Epidemiology, immune responses and control strategies. Viruses, 9,48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Will, L.A., Paul, P.S., Proescholdt T. A, et al., 1994. Evaluation of rotavirus infection in diarrhea in Iowa commercials pigs based on an epidemiologic study of a population represented by diagnostic laboratory cases. Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation, 6, 416–422.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

The authors are thankful to the ICAR-IVRI authority for providing facilities and funds for carrying out the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Epidemiology, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, 243122, India

    O. R. VinodhKumar, K. R. Nirupama, B. R. Singh, D. K. Sinha, Ramkumar Rupner, A. Karthikeyan & R. Karthikeyan

  2. Division of Biological Standardization, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, 243122, India

    S. Sircar & Y. S. Malik

  3. Veterinary Clinical Complex, Veterinary College, Gadag, Karnataka, 582101, India

    B. S. Pruthvishree

  4. Division of Veterinary Public Health, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, 243122, India

    Z. B. Dubal

Authors
  1. O. R. VinodhKumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. Sircar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. B. S. Pruthvishree
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. K. R. Nirupama
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. B. R. Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. D. K. Sinha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Ramkumar Rupner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. A. Karthikeyan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. R. Karthikeyan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Z. B. Dubal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Y. S. Malik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to O. R. VinodhKumar or Y. S. Malik.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

VinodhKumar, O.R., Sircar, S., Pruthvishree, B.S. et al. Cross-sectional study on rotavirus A (RVA) infection and assessment of risk factors in pre- and post-weaning piglets in India. Trop Anim Health Prod 52, 445–452 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-019-01999-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-019-01999-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation