Studies on the molecular epidemiology of canine parvovirus in the UK

Canine parvovirus (CPV) is a highly infectious gastrointestinal pathogen of all canids, the prevalence of which has remained high since it emerged in 1978, despite the development of highly efficacious vaccines with a long duration of immunity. Typing of CPV has historically been performed by mouse monoclonal antibodies which target specific amino acid changes, and has led to the definition of four antigenic types; type 2 which is no longer seen in the field, and types 2a, 2b and 2c, which are found co-circulating in various proportions in different countries. In order to evaluate how this relatively new virus emerged, spread with such speed, and how it evolves, we carried out a series of in depth studies of viruses in dogs seen at veterinary surgeries across the UK. We developed a sensitive long-range PCR to amplify the full VP2 gene which encodes the majority of the viral capsid protein, the major target of the host immune response.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo