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.