1. INTRODUCTION
Picornaviruses commonly infect a wide range of animal species, including
humans. They cause a broad range of clinical symptoms, such as
myocarditis,
meningitis, encephalitis, diarrhea, and paralysis. Recent research has
focused on the dependency between host transmission and intestinal
picornavirus infections. Many reports have demonstrated that the
picornavirus that can overcome host barriers have close genetic
similarities between species, and that different viral
genera
can adapt to new hosts; examples include Kobuvirus, Foot‐and‐mouth
disease virus, and Enterovirus(Mombo et al., 2015; Oberste et al., 2013;
Omondi et al.,
2019).
SVV is a single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus that belongs to the
genus Senecavirus within the family Picornaviridae . SVV is
closely related to members of the genus Cardiovirus, which
infected a wide range of vertebrate animals, including pigs, mice, and
humans.
Histopathological
examinations have revealed that
SVV
causes pathological changes in epithelial cells and acute lameness
myocarditis, vesicular lesions, interstitial pneumonia, and atrophy of
intestinal villi with vacuolation of the superficial
epithelial
cells(Canning et al., 2016; Leme, Oliveira, Alfieri, Headley, &
Alfieri, 2016). SVV can spread to other internal organs without any
other clinical manifestation.
In cross-species transmission, the concept of
“sentinel
species” is important in public health science. The use of a sentinel
species can provide the best animal model for SVV research. Such a model
provides integrated and relevant information on
virus
evolution through adaptive mutations and
neofunctionalization(Bo-Shun
et al., 2020; Liu et al., 2020). The mink (Mustela vison ) is a
member of the weasel family. It is a
carnivorous
mammal that has a high trophic status in the wild. The mink
diet
is varied and includes mice, frogs, snakes, birds, and small mammals. A
variety of virus infections have been identified in
mink,
including those spread by cross-species transmission. During the ongoing
SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, infection of mink on two farms in the Netherlands
was reported(Oreshkova et al., 2020). Mink has been a neglected
mammalian host, despite being infected by many subtypes of influenza A
viruses, including both mammalian and avian influenza A viruses(Zhao et
al., 2019).
From
an epidemiological standpoint, minks may be an important sentinel
species
for
surveillance and early warning of outbreaks of viral diseases. Despite
this potential, there is limited knowledge of the dynamics of
cross-species virus transmission in the
models
in relevant settings. Most studies have relied on prospective inference
and reconstruction of infections, without adequate knowledge of the
mechanism of immunity.
Here, we studied
SVV
isolated from a farm that was the site of SVV infection. The associated
clinical signs and pathological and virological findings are described.
Sequence analysis of SVV implicated the virus as a probable source of
the initial infection. Transmission of SVV between mink, mice, and pigs
may occur following excretion by the mink and subsequent environmental
persistence of the virus. The data presented in this study are the first
description of the cross-species transmission of SVV in mink.