Studies on the rotavirus excretion pattern in cow calves using polyclonal antibody sandwich ELISA Test

A study on excretion of rotavirus was carried out in an organized dairy farm with a history of neonatal diarrhoea. It was designed to observe the persistence of excretion of rotavirus for one month. A total of 346 faecal samples (diarrhoeic as well as non-diarrhoeic) were collected daily from all the seventeen cow calves below one month of age. Most of the calves suffered at least once with diarrhoea during one month of study. All the faecal samples were tested for the presence of rotavirus by Polyclonal Antibody ELISA (PAb-ELlSA). Out of 17 calves, six calves of different age were found excreting rotavirus in their faeces. Sequential studies showed that virus shedding persists for 5–8 days and highest titre (>1:25600) of rotavirus antigen were developed on 1–2 day after the onset of diarrhoea. All the diarrhoeic faecal samples positive for rotavirus by PAb-ELISA were also sc~eened by RNA-Poly acrylamide gel electrophoresis (RNA-PAGE) test and a similar electropherotype was observed to be present in all the positive samples.