ABSTRACT
This chapter provides state-of-the-art overviews on foodborne diseases caused by Torovirus in relation to their etiology, biology, epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Torovirus is a known cause of diarrhea in horses and cattle and is also found in the fecal specimens of children with acute diarrhea. Torovirus is a genus of positive, single-stranded RNA viruses within the subfamily Torovinae, family Coronaviridae, order Nidovirales. Similar to other members of the Coronaviridae family, torovirus is a round, pleomorphic, enveloped particle of 100-140 nm in diameter, which is covered by two sets of surface projections. Extensive N-glycosylation and proteolytic cleavage of the precursor are part of the posttranslational processing of the torovirus S protein. Like other positive-stranded RNA viruses, toroviruses undertake positive-stranded RNA virus replication, with replication and transcription occurring in membrane invaginations of the host cell cytoplasm. Toroviruses are emergent viruses with a potential of zoonotic transmission that can cause enteric disease and diarrhea in humans.
