Brief Communication A newly recognized deer adenovirus (DAdV; species Deer atadenovirus A, genus Atadenovirus, family Adenoviridae) was the cause of an outbreak of hemorrhagic disease that caused high mortality in mule deer in California during 1993 and 1994 9 and has since been frequently detected as a cause of hemorrhagic disease in mule deer in the western United States 14 (20100821.2923 ProMED-mail post, https://www .promedmail.org/post/20100821.2923). Sporadic disease has been diagnosed in white-tailed deer (WTD; Odocoileus virginianus) and/or moose in Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, and Canada. 4,5,7 Pulmonary edema, intestinal hemorrhage, and/or ulceration in the upper alimentary tract associated with vasculitis are manifestations of adenoviral hemorrhagic disease (AHD). The disease was successfully reproduced experimentally in black-tailed deer (BTD; Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) fawns and yearlings as well as in WTD fawns. 10,11,12 DAdV is most closely related phylogenetically to bovine adenovirus 7 (BAdV-7), goat adenovirus 1 (GAdV-1), and ovine adenovirus 7 (OAdV-7), 3,15 which raises the question of whether domestic livestock are susceptible to infection with DAdV. A 2008 study determined that bovine calves do not develop clinical disease or become infected with DAdV, 13 but no studies have been performed in ovine species. Livestock mix with deer in California and are moved around the state and could move DAdV to regions of uninfected susceptible deer. We designed a study to determine if colostrum-deprived lambs can be infected with DAdV, if they develop clinical disease or asymptomatic infection, and if virus can replicate in and be shed by lambs. Nine newborn Rambouillet-Hampshire lambs were obtained from the Sheep Unit at the University of Wyoming's Livestock Center (Laramie, WY) prior to receiving colostrum. For the first 3 wk, the lambs were raised in an isolated room and bottle-fed with milk replacer (Super Lamb instant milk replacer, Merricks, Middleton, WI). At 3 wk of age, lambs were transported to the James C. Hageman Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension Center (SAREC; Animal Biosafety Level 1 [ABSL-1]) near Lingle, WY. Lambs were bottle-fed twice daily with milk replacer for the remainder of the study and provided with 4-way grain mix (Ranch-Way Feeds, Fort Collins, CO). All lambs were vaccinated with 2 mL of Clostridium perfringens types C & D and tetanus antitoxin (Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, St. Joseph, MO) 3 d post-inoculation (dpi) with DAdV. Four yearling WTD that served as the positive control animals were raised from neonates in an outdoor pen at the Wyoming Game and Fish-Tom Thorne/Beth Williams Wildlife Research Center at Sybille (ABSL-1). When the deer were yearlings, they were moved to a covered outdoor pen at the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory (WSVL; Laramie, WY; ABSL-1). Animals were fed natural forage at the research center and then alfalfa hay and alfalfa pellets ad libitum once moved to WSVL.
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