Parvovirus Research Paper

Monica Franco
Biology 1A Lab
Erik Arevalo
Parvovirus

Parvovirus is one of the smallest eukaryotic viruses that exist. It is a disease that attacks an organism’s cells and can go into the bloodstream, allowing other types of illnesses such as subclinical infections, dermatologic, hematologic, and rheumatologic manifestations to attack the body (Cotmore et al., 2013). A key characteristic of parvovirus is that it replicates itself rapidly through an organism’s cells. It is a part of the parvoviridae family, which is divided into the two subfamilies, parvovirinae and densivirinae. Parvovirus is a genera of the parvovirinae subfamily. There are over 100 types of parvoviruses (Cotmore et al., 2013). Its main targets are animals and humans; the most common parvoviruses being canine parvovirus, feline parvovirus, and
To start off, Amelia Goddard and Andrew Leisewitz, two veterinary science researchers, offer a thorough understanding of canine parvovirus in their article, “Canine Parvovirus”. Canine parvovirus is one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity among dogs. It attacks dogs of all ages, breeds, and sizes, with small breed dogs and puppies being most susceptible to the infection. Puppies are extremely susceptible because they lack immunity to the virus during infancy.. Immunity to parvovirus builds up over time, therefore making young animals most vulnerable.. It spreads virally among dogs
Common characteristics that they share are the way in which they attack and bind to a host’s cells. Each parvovirus has a main source in the host’s body where they replicate and spread virally. In each species of target, the young offspring are the ones most susceptible, seeing as they are born with no auto-immunity against it. The general danger with parvovirus is that it a pathogen for other diseases in the species it targets. Overall, it is a cause of high mortality in animal species, but not in