Gastroenteritis outbreak associated with faecal shedding of canine norovirus in a Portuguese kennel following introduction of imported dogs from Russia

Abstract

We describe an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in dogs in March 2011 in a Portuguese kennel after the introduction of imported Russian dogs. Canine norovirus was detected in faecal samples of all dogs with AGE symptoms. Partial sequence analysis of the RT-PCR products confirmed that all canine norovirus strains were identical. The canine norovirus infection disseminated rapidly in 2 days to all dogs in the kennel demonstrating the highly contagious nature of this virus. The incubation period was <48 h, the diarrhoeal disease was self-limiting and the viral shedding lasted <7 days. Overall, the epidemiological features of this outbreak resembled those of human norovirus infections.