Sagar Goyal

University of Minnesota Twin Cities | UMN · Department of Veterinary Population Medicine

Here, we report the development of a novel polymer composite (PC) purification column and kit. The performance of the PC columns was compared to conventional silica gel (SG) columns for the purification of nucleic acids from coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, in 82 clinical samples. The results shows that PC-based purification outperforms silica...

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is one of the most economically important diseases of swine, with losses due to poor reproductive performance and high piglet and growing pig mortality. Transmission of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) may occur by both direct and indirect routes; the latter includes ex...

Outbreaks of viral diseases in animals are a cause of concern for animal welfare and economics of animal production. One way to disrupt the cycle of infection is by combating viruses in the environment and prohibiting them from being transmitted to a new host. Viral contamination of the environment can be reduced using well-tested and efficacious d...

Avian influenza (AI) is a highly contagious disease that can be transmitted to naïve birds through fomites. The survival of AI viruses (AIV) on nonporous and porous fomites also dictates how long the fomite can serve as a vehicle for virus transmission. AIVs are known to be inactivated by ozone and ultraviolet (UV) light. However, the combined effe...

Here, we report the development of a novel polymer composite (PC) purification column and kit. The performance of the PC columns was compared to conventional silica gel (SG) columns for the purification of nucleic acids from coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, in 82 clinical samples. The results shows that PC-based purification outperforms silica...

This study reports a rare fatal case of Chromobacterium violeceum OUAT_2017 strain infection in an Asiatic elephant calf in India. Necropsy revealed pus-filled nodules in liver, spleen, and lungs. Nutrient broth cultures of nodule content showed sediment of violet pigment whereas smooth, non-diffusible, violet-pigmented, homogeneous colonies appear...

Turkey arthritis reovirus (TARV) has been established as a cause of lameness in meat type turkeys in the past decade. However, no information is available on the age susceptibility of TARV or its transmission dynamics. We conducted this study to determine the age at which turkey poults are susceptible to TARV infection and whether infected birds ca...

Turkey reoviruses have been implicated in multiple disease syndromes resulting in significant economic losses to the turkey industry. Turkey enteric reovirus (TERV) has been known to be involved in poult enteritis complex for decades, but turkey arthritis reovirus (TARV), the causative agent of tenosynovitis in turkeys, emerged in 2011. Recently in...

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) can infect approximately 250 avian species and causes highly contagious Newcastle disease (ND) in domestic poultry, leading to huge economic losses. There are three different pathotypes of NDV, i.e., lentogenic, mesogenic, and velogenic. Wild resident (wild) and migratory birds are natural reservoirs of NDV and are bel...

We created a recombinant live pichinde virus-vectored bivalent codon optimized subunit vaccine that expresses immunogenic Sigma C and Sigma B proteins of turkey arthritis reovirus. The vaccine virus could be transmitted horizontally immunizing the non-vaccinated pen mates. The vaccine was tested for efficacy against homologous (TARV SKM121) and het...

Background Newcastle disease (ND) is an economically important viral disease affecting the poultry industry. In Kerala, a state in South India, incidences of ND in commercial and backyard poultry have been reported. But a systematic statewide study on the prevalence of the disease has not been carried out. Objectives A cross‐sectional survey was p...

Newcastle disease (ND), caused by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), is a contagious disease that affects a variety of domestic and wild avian species. Though ND is vaccine-preventable, it is a persistent threat to poultry industry across the globe. The disease represents a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in chickens. To better understand the...

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique challenge to the healthcare community due to the high infectivity rate and need for effective personal protective equipment. Zinc oxide nanoparticles have shown promising antimicrobial properties and are recognized as a safe additive in many food and cosmetic products. This work presents a novel nanocomposite...

Canine astrovirus (CAstV) and canine bocavirus (CBoV) are involved in cases of mild, and sometimes severe, gastroenteritis in dogs. Fecal samples from two dead dogs with gastroenteritis were received at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory to determine the cause of death. Small round viruses of 20- 35 nm diameter were observ...

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) causes Newcastle disease (ND) in poultry. The ND is a highly contagious disease, which is endemic in several countries despite regular vaccination with live or killed vaccines. Studies on NDV in India are mostly targeted toward its detection and characterization from disease outbreaks. A surveillance study was undertak...

Bovine astrovirus (BAstV) is a small single-stranded RNA virus, which belongs taxonomically to genus Mamastrovirus under the family Astroviridae. The BAstV is strongly linked to neonatal diarrhea of calves. A few studies are available on BAstV, mainly from Asia, and to a lesser extent from Europe, South America, and Africa. There is only one report...

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) causes Enzootic Bovine Leukosis (EBL), a persistent life-long disease resulting in immune dysfunction and shortened lifespan in infected cattle, severely impacting the profitability of the US dairy industry. Our group has found that 94% of dairy farms in the United States are infected with BLV with an average in-herd pre...

The COVID−19 pandemic presents a unique challenge to the healthcare community due to the high infectivity rate and need for effective personal protective equipment. Zinc oxide nanoparticles have shown promising antimicrobial properties and are recognized as a safe additive in many food and cosmetic products. This work presents a novel nanocomposite...

The development and spread of antibiotics and biocides resistance is a significant global challenge. To find a solution for this emerging problem, the discovery of novel bacterial cellular targets and the critical pathways associated with antimicrobial resistance is needed. In the present study, we investigated the role of the two most critical env...

Background Enterococci are ubiquitous microorganisms having diverse ecological niches but most prominently in gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals. Production of enterocins makes them a good probiotic candidate. However, their role as probiotics has become ambiguous in the last few years because of the presence of virulence factors and anti...

: Vaccination may be an effective way to reduce turkey arthritis reovirus (TARV)-induced lameness in turkey flocks. However, there are currently no commercial vaccines available against TARV infection. Here, we describe the use of reverse genetics technology to generate a recombinant Pichinde virus (PICV) that expresses the Sigma C and/or Sigma B p...

Background Enterococci are ubiquitous microorganisms having diverse ecological niches but mostly prominently in gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals. Production of enterocins make them used as probiotics, but in last few years their role as probiotic become ambiguous. This ambiguity in their probiotic role is related to presence of virulenc...

Researchers must be able to measure concentrations, sizes, and infectivity of virus-containing particles in animal agriculture facilities to know how far infectious virus-containing particles may travel through air, where they may deposit in the human or animal respiratory tract, and the most effective ways to limit exposures to them. The objective...

Control technologies to inactivate airborne viruses effectively are needed during the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and to guard against airborne transmitted diseases. We demonstrate that sealed UV−C flow reactors operating with fluences near 253 ± 1 nm of 13.9−49.6 mJ cm −2 efficiently inactivate coronaviruses in an aerosol. For measurements, porci...

Papillomaviruses affect both human and non-human hosts. In camels, papillomatosis is caused by Camelus dromedarius papillomavirus type 1 and 2 (CdPV1 and CdPV2, respectively). In late 2018, an outbreak of camelpox occurred in a herd of fattening camels in Egypt. Several animals were found to be co-infected with camelpox and camel papillomaviruses....

Background: Although highly strict social distancing and viral spread protection guidelines are in force, the reported numbers of COVID-19 cases across the world are still increasing. This indicates that we are still unable to completely understand the transmission routes of SARS-CoV-2. One of the possible routes that can play a significant role is...

Background:Although highly strict social distancing and viral spread protection guidelines are in force, the reported numbers of COVID-19 cases across the world are still increasing. This indicates that we are still unable to completely understand the transmission routes of SARS-CoV-2. One of the possible routes that can play a significant role is...

A flock of captive bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) experienced loose droppings, depression, and increased mortality starting at 3 wk of age. Necropsy of the affected birds revealed intestines dilated with frothy and tan fluid. Irregular dark brown fissures within the koilin layer of the gizzard were found in 20%–30% of the birds. Histologicall...

Kobuvirus infections are common among humans, rodents, carnivores, pigs, and ruminants. We report herein the complete genome sequence of a novel caprine kobuvirus (MN604700) from diarrheic kids in Minnesota. Whole-genome sequencing revealed a kobuvirus genome of 8,139 nt with a single ORF region encoding a polyprotein of 2,480 amino acids. Further...

Cold atmospheric pressure plasma has potential as a non-thermal processing technology to decontaminate food and food contact surfaces due to its ability to generate an abundance of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species with antimicrobial attributes at ambient conditions. In this study, we present a comparison on the effectiveness of surface decontam...

Although the unprecedented efforts the world has been taking to control the spread of the human coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and its causative etiology [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome- Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)], the number of confirmed cases has been increasing drastically. Therefore, there is an urgent need for devising more efficient preve...

Since August 2014, the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has received cases of turkey enteritis that are clinically different from previously described cases of poult enteritis syndrome and light turkey syndrome. The birds develop dark green and extremely foul-smelling diarrhea starting at 8-10 wk of age, which may last up to...

Diarrhea caused by Escherichia coli in calves is an important problem in terms of survivability, productivity and treatment costs. In this study, 88 of 150 diarrheic animals tested positive for E. coli. Of these, 54 samples had mixed infection with other bacterial and/or parasitic agents. There are several diarrheagenic E. coli pathotypes including...

Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (ORT) is an important bacterial pathogen of great economic significance to poultry production. This bacterium causes severe disease in chickens and turkeys worldwide. The objective of this study was to characterize ORT isolates from two different geographic locations in the U.S. by Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST)....

Although the unprecedented efforts the world has been taking to control the spread of the human coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and its causative etiology [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2)], the number of confirmed cases has been increasing drastically. Therefore, there is an urgent need for devising more efficient prevent...

Cervidpoxvirus is one of the more recently designated genera within the subfamily Chordopoxvirinae, with Deerpox virus (DPV) as the only recognized species to date. In this study, the authors describe spontaneous disease and infection in the North American moose ( Alces americanus) by a novel Cervidpoxvirus, here named Moosepox virus (MPV). Three 4...

The transmission of airborne diseases in animals poses great risks to animal safety with potential significant economic losses. In this study, we report on the use of a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) for in‐flight inactivation of an airborne aerosolized porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. The infectivity of the sampled virus do...

Cold atmospheric pressure plasma is an emerging nonthermal processing technology for the decontamination of foodborne pathogens. This study presents a comparative evaluation of the energy efficiency of the decontamination by three different dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) setups operating in air against Feline calicivirus with a UV‐C lamp. Signi...

Foodborne viral diseases are a major public health threat and pose a huge burden on the economies of both developed and developing countries. Enteric viruses are the causative agents of most foodborne illnesses and outbreaks. Egypt is classified by WHO among the regions with intermediate to high endemicity for various enteric viruses. This is manif...

Reoviruses are common among domestic poultry and other avian species. This chapter offers detailed coverage of the history, etiology, pathobiology, epizootiology, diagnosis, and intervention strategies of avian reovirus. Apart from tenosynovitis in chickens and turkeys, reovirus is considered as the cause of other clinical diseases, but a clear rel...

We studied the efficacy of cold atmospheric-pressure plasma (CAP), generated by a two-dimensional array of integrated, coaxial, microhollow, dielectric barrier discharge plasma, against Salmonella enterica serovar Heidelberg (SH) on stainless steel, romaine lettuce, and chicken breast. Exposure of SH to CAP on a dry stainless steel surface had low...

Turkey arthritis reovirus (TARV) causes tenosynovitis in turkeys, resulting in decreased profits for producers due to the increase in morbidity, mortality, and feed conversion ratio. There is limited information on TARV epidemiology, including the dynamics of diagnostic submissions to veterinary diagnostic laboratories. In this study, we retrospect...

Cold atmospheric-gaseous plasma (CAP) is an emerging non-thermal technology for decontamination of foodborne bacterial and viral pathogens. We obtained a >5 log10 reduction in the titer (TCID50) of feline calicivirus (FCV) on stainless steel discs and Romaine lettuce leaves after 3 min wet exposure to air plasma generated by a two-dimensional array...

The molecular characterization of three Newcastle disease viruses (NDV) isolated from backyard chickens in the state of Haryana, India, was undertaken. Two genotype II strains and one genotype XIIIc class II isolate with genome sizes of 15,186 and 15,192 nucleotides (nt), respectively, were identified.

During 2015, duck farms (n= 27) in Sharkia Province, Egypt, experienced several disease outbreaks leading to mortality and nervous manifestations. Upon necropsy, the affected ducklings showed liver lesions, such as hemorrhage or necrosis, suggestive of duck virus hepatitis (DVH). Reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR), on the basis of the 3D gene, foun...

Introduction: Cold atmospheric-gaseous plasma (CAP) is a powerful technology for decontamination of foodborne bacterial and viral pathogens. Recently we reported >5 log10 TCID50 reduction in feline calicivirus (FCV) on stainless steel discs and romaine lettuce leaves after 3 min wet exposure to air plasma generated by a novel 2D- air-based DBD- col...

Disinfecting foods and their contact surfaces is imperative to agriculture and food-processing industries. There is compelling rationale in employing atmospheric pressure plasmas for decontamination as they enable the treatment of heat-sensitive materials at ambient conditions. By producing a chemically rich environment, non-equilibrium plasma disc...

Due to their low gas temperature and high reactivity, non-equilibrium atmospheric pressure plasmas have gained recognition in surface disinfection and bio-decontamination. This effect is mainly attributed to the production of numerous reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) 1. However, most of these studies are focused on bacteria and bio-films...

Kobuviruses are small non-enveloped RNA viruses that probably cause diarrhea in cattle and swine. Since its discovery in 2003, few studies have addressed bovine kobuvirus (BKoV; a species of Aichivirus B) infections. BKoV has been reported in Europe, Asia, and South America, suggesting a worldwide distribution. To investigate the presence of BKoV i...

Description: Aerosol samplers with different collection and size separation techniques such as filtration, impingement, impaction and electrostatic precipitation were used to sample mechanically generated viral aerosol particles in an isolation room. Viral aerosol recoveries among the samplers were compared. Situation/Problem: Influenza viruses h...

Bovine alphaherpesvirus 1 (BHV-1), a member of the Herpesviridae family, causes respiratory and reproductive tract infections in cattle. Here, we report complete genome sequences of 18 field isolates of BHV-1 from Pennsylvania and Minnesota.

Expect Healthy Deer Technology® is a novel feed additive that contains natural feed ingredients that are known to have anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties. Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD), caused by EHD virus (EHDV), is a hemorrhagic disease spread by small biting midge gnats affecting certain species of animals, especially d...

Bovine norovirus (BNoV) has emerged as a viral pathogen that causes a gastrointestinal illness and diarrhea in cattle. Despite its worldwide distribution, very little information is known about BNoV in Africa. In this study, BNoV was detected in 27.6% (8/29) of tested fecal materials, collected from sporadic cases of diarrheic calves, using the rev...

Campylobacter, one of the emerging zoonotic pathogens, is worldwide in distribution. This thermo-tolerant pathogen is one of the leading causes of diarrhea and gastroenteritis in humans. The main sources of infection are contaminated meat and meat products. A cross-sectional study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of Campylobacter species in...

S2 Fig. LC-MS/MS annotated spectrum (top) with alignment (bottom) of: A) monoisotopic [M + 2H]2+ observed precursors 605.6633 m/z matched to peptide QSLGPLLNPYLH202HLAK, PEAKS -10logP score 31.22. B) Monoisotopic [M + 2H]2+ observed precursor 768.3952 m/z matched to peptide H354WTDINGFAIRPFVFQANR PEAKS -10logP score 22.87. Theoretical b- and y-type...

S1 Spread sheet. Label free relative quantification of peptides between control and CAP-exposed samples performed with RIPPER software. (Spreadsheet A): Relative quantification of peptides between band 1 of control and 15s CAP-exposed samples. (Spreadsheet B): Relative quantification of peptides between band 2 of control and 15s CAP-exposed samples...

S1 Fig. X-ray structure of FCV capsid. A) X-ray structure of FCV viewed along the icosahedral 2-fold axis. Location of a set of A/B and C/C dimers and icosahedral 5-fold and 3-fold axes are shown. B) Ribbon representation of the VP1 subunit structure. The NTA (green), S domain (blue), and P1 (red) and P2 (yellow) subdomains are indicated. Source: O...

S1 File. Parameters of LC-MS, parameters of peptide spectral matching and protein inference and optimized parameters of quantification via RIPPER.

Possible mechanisms that lead to inactivation of feline calicivirus (FCV) by cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) generated in 99% argon-1% O 2 admixture were studied. We evaluated the impact of CAP exposure on the FCV viral capsid protein and RNA employing several cultural, molecular, proteomic and morphologic characteristics techniques. In the...

LC-MS/MS annotated spectrum (top) with alignment (bottom) of: A) monoisotopic [M + 2H]2+ observed precursors 605.6633 m/z matched to peptide QSLGPLLNPYLH202HLAK, PEAKS -10logP score 31.22. B) Monoisotopic [M + 2H]2+ observed precursor 768.3952 m/z matched to peptide H354WTDINGFAIRPFVFQANR PEAKS -10logP score 22.87. Theoretical b- and y-type fragmen...

Parameters of LC-MS, parameters of peptide spectral matching and protein inference and optimized parameters of quantification via RIPPER. (PDF)

X-ray structure of FCV capsid. A) X-ray structure of FCV viewed along the icosahedral 2-fold axis. Location of a set of A/B and C/C dimers and icosahedral 5-fold and 3-fold axes are shown. B) Ribbon representation of the VP1 subunit structure. The NTA (green), S domain (blue), and P1 (red) and P2 (yellow) subdomains are indicated. Source: Ossiboff...

Label free relative quantification of peptides between control and CAP-exposed samples performed with RIPPER software. (Spreadsheet A): Relative quantification of peptides between band 1 of control and 15s CAP-exposed samples. (Spreadsheet B): Relative quantification of peptides between band 2 of control and 15s CAP-exposed samples. (Spreadsheet C)...

Indirect transmission of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) ensues when susceptible animals contact PEDV-contaminated fomite materials. Although the survival of PEDV under various pHs and temperatures has been studied, virus stability on different fomite surfaces under varying temperature conditions has not been explored. Hence, we evaluated th...

Foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) was isolated from sloughed tongue epithelium of Egyptian cattle presenting with mouth lesions and ropy salivation in two Egyptian governorates (El-Fayoum and Dakahlia). The virus was isolated in Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells and identified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The...

Background Feed contaminated with feces from infected pigs is believed to be a potential route of transmission of porcine delta coronavirus (PDCoV). The objective of this study was to determine if the addition of commercial feed additives (e.i., acids, salt and sugar) to swine feed can be an effective strategy to inactive PDCoV. Results Six commer...

During regulatory sampling of fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas), a novel calicivirus was isolated from homogenates of kidney and spleen inoculated into bluegill fry (BF-2) cells. Infected cell cultures exhibiting cytopathic effects were screened by PCR-based methods for selected fish viral pathogens. Illumina HiSeq next generation sequencing of...

Background Infection with Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) causes vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration in young pigs. The virus made its first appearance in the U.S. in 2013, where it caused substantial neonatal mortality and economic losses in the U.S. pork industry. Based on outbreak investigations, it is hypothesized that the virus could be...

Due to the anatomical and physiological similarities to humans that include similar heart size, flow rate, skin, liver enzymes and bone healing, porcine models as a powerful investigational platform have been widely used in research areas such as diabetes, obesity and islet transplantation [1]. The advantages of relative low cost, ease in handling...

The use of low-temperature plasmas for bio-decontamination and sterilization has been gaining increased attention. In this study, a two-dimensional array of integrated coaxial microhollow micro-discharges generated in dry air at atmospheric pressure is used to treat metal surfaces (gas-phase) and solution (liquid-phase) contaminated with a known co...

Introduction: In the U.S., 1.2 million illnesses are caused by Salmonella resulting in 19,000 hospitalizations and 380 deaths, annually. Poultry meat is the major implicated food but contaminated fresh produce is also implicated. Salmonella Heidelberg (SH) is the most common serovar found in retail poultry. Antimicrobial drug resistance in this ser...