Bovine coronavirus

Bovine coronavirus (BCV or BCoV) is a coronavirus which is a member of the species Betacoronavirus 1. The infecting virus is an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus which enters its host cell by binding to the N-acetyl-9-O-acetylneuraminic acid recepter. Infection causes calf enteritis and contributes to the enzootic pneumonia complex in calves. It can also cause winter dysentery in adult cattle. It can infect both domestic and wild ruminants and has a worldwide distribution. Transmission is horizontal, via oro-fecal or respiratory routes. Like other coronaviruses from genus Betacoronavirus, subgenus Embecovirus, it has a surface protein called hemagglutinin esterase (HE) in addition to the four structural proteins shared by all coronaviruses (spike, membrane, nucleocapsid, and envelope proteins).