Investigation of bovine coronavirus and bovine rotavirus by rapid diagnosis kit and RT-PCR in diarrheic calf feces

This study has investigated bovine coronavirus (BCoV) and bovine rotavirus (BRV), which are among the most important causes of diarrhea in calves leading to financial losses in Turkey and all over the world BCoV and BRV were detected by Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), which is one of the most reliable method of diagnosis, The results obtained by RT-PCR were compared to the sensitivity of the commercial Rota-Corona Rapid Test Kits used by clinical veterinarians in fields. In this study, 96 fecal samples were examined from diarrheic calves in cattle farms in the cities of Konya and Afyon for BRV and BCoV firstly by BoviD-5 Ag rapid test kit, and then we applied the RT-PCR test. A comparison of the rapid test kit with the RT-PCR in terms of sensitivity and specificity revealed the 83% sensitivity and 100% specificity of the BRV and 7.6% sensitivity and 100% specificity of BCoV. In conclusion the practical and rapid diagnosis of the disease using of Rapid Diagnosis kit used by the clinician veterinarians may be useful, but the results must be interpreted with caution since the sensitivity of the test decreases due to the reduction in the number of viruses in the later stages of the infection. .