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Parvovirus From Wild Coyote Pups in Mexico Was Closely Related to Dog CPV-2c Strains

Coyote pup standing in grass in warm sunlight
Research: Disease, parasites & microbiology, Genetics & genomics

Three wild coyote (Canis latrans) pups with gastroenteritis in Nuevo León, northeastern Mexico, carried canine parvovirus type 2c (CPV-2c). Researchers isolated virus from all three animals and obtained complete viral genomes from two of them.

The pups were only about two to three months old and showed clinical signs including lethargy, fever and diarrhoea. Previous work had already detected CPV-2c in coyotes from the region; the new study extended this by analysing complete genomes from clinically affected wild animals.

The two genomes belonged to CPV-2c

Both sequenced viruses were classified as CPV-2c. The researchers identified several changes in viral proteins, including an L354V substitution in the helicase region of the NS1 protein in both genomes. NS1 is important for parvovirus replication, making the change biologically interesting, but the study did not show that it altered viral function or caused the pups’ clinical signs.

The coyote viruses were closely related to strains from dogs

Phylogenetic analyses placed the two coyote viruses close to CPV-2c strains circulating in domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) in Mexico and the United States. The authors interpret this close genomic relationship as strong evidence of recent transmission across the domestic dog–coyote interface.

The genomes cannot show which direction the virus moved. Transmission may have occurred from dogs to coyotes or in the opposite direction, and the study does not identify the specific contact event responsible.

The authors describe the work as the first complete genomic characterisation of clinical CPV-2 infection in wild coyotes in Mexico. They argue that genomic surveillance of wildlife and domestic animals can help reveal how parvovirus variants move between hosts where wild carnivores and dogs share the same landscape.

Sources and image credit

  1. Busqueta-Medina et al. (2026), Pathogens — Genomic Characterization of Clinical Canine Parvovirus Type 2c Infection in Wild Coyotes (Canis latrans) in MexicoPrimary peer-reviewed open-access study, published 11 January 2026. Analysed clinical CPV-2 infection in three wild coyote pups from northeastern Mexico, isolated virus from all three samples and generated complete genomes from two isolates. Both clustered within CPV-2c and were closely related to Mexican and U.S. dog strains.
  2. PubMed — Genomic Characterization of Clinical Canine Parvovirus Type 2c Infection in Wild Coyotes in MexicoBibliographic record confirming publication on 11 January 2026 and summarising the CPV-2c genomic and phylogenetic findings.

Image: Larry Lamsa / Wikimedia Commons — coyote pup at Bandelier, New Mexico, USA, 23 July 2011. Representative photograph; the pup is not from the Mexican study. · CC BY 2.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ · Source

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