A novel pestivirus associated with deaths in Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica)

Abstract

During investigations into recent population decreases in Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica) 21 animals found dead or dying were necropsied. Immunohistochemistry revealed the presence of a pestivirus in organs from two of the 21 chamois. From one of these animals a pestivirus was isolated from the spleen, skin and serum. The virus had better growth in ovine than in bovine cells and was neutralized most effectively by an anti-border disease virus (BDV) reference antiserum. Using panpestivirus and genotype-specific primers selected from 59-untranslated region (UTR) of the pestivirus genome, BDV RNA was demonstrated by RT-PCR. Comparison of the chamois sequences from 59-UTR, entire N pro and E2 gene coding regions with those of other pestivirus genotypes revealed that this virus did not fall into any of the pestivirus genotypes identified so far. Results of phylogenetic analysis suggested that the chamois pestivirus was closely related to BDV and it was typed as BDV-4 genotype.Pestiviruses (family Flaviviridae) affect ruminants and suids. There are four accepted pestivirus species: Border disease virus (BDV), Bovine viral diarrhoea virus-1 (BVDV-1), BVDV-2 and Classical swine fever virus (CSFV); and an isolate tentatively classified as a pestivirus from a giraffe (Heinz et al., 2000). Genetic and antigenic characterization of new pestiviruses isolated from sheep has led to the proposal that BDV strains can be allocated into one of three genotypes, BDV-1 to -3 (Becher et al., 2003).The knowledge of pestivirus infections in wild animals is limited. Pestiviruses have been isolated from giraffe (Plowright, 1969), deer, buffalo, bison, bongo, alpaca and reindeer. The deer, buffalo, alpaca and bongo isolates had BVDV-1 genotypes. The bison and reindeer isolates were closer to BD virus (Becher et al., 1997(Becher et al., , 1999) and the reindeer isolate was classified into the BDV-2 genotype (Becher et al., 2003). Serological surveys have shown that many species of free-living ruminants have varying prevalence of antibody to pestiviruses (Nettleton, 1990).The Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica) known locally as sarrio and isard, is a free-living ruminant grazing with domesticated cattle and sheep in the Pyrenean mountains, with a population of about 25 000 animals (Pérez et al., 2002). Recently, a population decrease has been observed in both the French and Spanish Central Pyrenees, and the possible involvement of pestiviruses has been reported (Guffond et Icre, 2003;Marco et al., 2003;Schelcher & Alzieu, 2003). The study reported here was undertaken in the Principality of Andorra and four hunting reserves in Aragon (Spain): Benasque, Los Circos, Viñamala and Los Valles. The area in which chamois deaths were excessive lies between Andorra to the east and Benasque reserve to the west.A serological survey was conducted to investigate the prevalence of pestivirus antibody in Pyrenean chamois. An ELISA was used to detect anti-pestivirus antibodies in 200 sera using a standard method employing the O...

Prevalence of antibodies against selected agents shared between Cantabrian chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica parva) and domestic goats

“…Antibodies against viral pathogens include bovine herpesvirus 1, encephalomyocarditis virus (Gentile et al 2000), bovine parainfluenza type 3 virus, bovine respiratory syncytial virus (Gaffuri et al 2006), and pestivirus (Gentile et al 2000;Arnal et al 2004;Hurtado et al 2004;Gaffuri et al 2006;Marco et al 2007;Pioz et al 2007;Marco et al 2008). Regarding bacterial agents, antibodies have been detected against Brucella melitensis (Garin-Bastuji et al 1990), Mycoplasma conjunctivae (Giacometti et al 2002;Gaffuri et al 2006), Salmonella enterica, Coxiella burnetii (Pioz et al 2008), Leptospira interrogans (Gentile et al 2000), and Chlamydophila abortus (Pioz et al 2008;Salinas et al 2009).…”

Occurrence of Chlamydiaceae, Mycoplasma Conjunctivae, and Pestiviruses in Alpine Chamois (Rupicapra r. Rupicapra) of Grisons, Switzerland

“…For example, 16% of seropositive chamois were found in the Central Pyrenees, and 25.5% of the investigated chamois were positive in an Italian study. 2,19 There, the investigators stated that presence of BDV among extensively kept domestic sheep may be the cause for the high pestivirus antibody prevalence in that chamois population. A recent Swiss study in sheep in Grisons showed a seroprevalence of 32.4% and 33.7% for BVDV-1 and BDV-1, respectively.…”

Experimental Infection of Pregnant Pyrenean Chamois (Rupicapra Pyrenaica) With Border Disease Virus Subtype 4

“…Moderate hyperplasia with orthokeratotic hyperkeratosis was also observed in skin . The strains isolated during these outbreaks were BDV-4 (Arnal et al, 2004;Frö lich et al, 2005). A retrospective study of archived sera and spleen showed that the populations studied had been infected by BDV-4 strains at least as early as 1990.…”