Identification of gammaherpesvirus infection in free-ranging black bears (Ursus americanus)

Abstract

A B S T R A C THerpesvirus infection was investigated in black bears (Ursus americanus) with neurological signs and brain lesions of nonsuppurative encephalitis of unknown cause. Visible cytopathic effects (CPE) could only be observed on days 3-5 post-infection in HrT-18G cell line inoculated with bear tissue extracts. The observed CPE in HrT-18G cells included syncytia, intranuclear inclusions, and cell detachments seen in herpesvirus infection in vitro. Herpesvirus-like particles were observed in viral culture supernatant under the electron microscope, however, capsids ranging from 60 nm to 100 nm in size were often observed in viral cultures within the first two passages of propagation. Herpesvirus infection in the bear tissues and tissue cultures were detected by PCR using degenerate primers specific to the DNA polymerase gene (DPOL) and glycoprotein B gene (gB). DNA sequencing of the amplicon revealed that the detected herpesvirus has 94-95% identity to Ursid gammaherpesvirus 1 (UrHV-1) DNA sequences of DPOL. Phylogenetic analysis of DPOL sequences indicates that black bear herpesviruses and UrHV-1 are closely related and have small distances to members of Rhadinovirus. Interestingly, black bear herpesvirus infections were also found in bears without neurological signs. The DPOL DNA sequence of black bear herpesviruses detected in neurological bears were similar to the those detected in the non-neurological bears. However, the gB DNA sequence detected from the neurological bear is different from non-neurological bear and has only 64.5%-70% identity to each other. It is possible that at least two different types of gammaherpesviruses are present in the U. americanus population or several gammaherpesviruses exist in ursine species. phoma, primary effusion lymphoma in human (Moore et al., 1996;Wong and Damania, 2005). However, both HHV-4 and HHV8 are

Fatal Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus Infection of Two Young Asian Elephants

“…Cell culture: Crandell–Rees feline kidney (CrFK), Madin-Darby canine kidney II (MDCK II), African green monkey kidney (Vero), bovine dermal (BD), rabbit kidney 13 (RK-13), human embryonic kidney nuclear domain 10 deletion mutant [13] (293T ND10), and equine endothelial cells [14] (EC; kindly provided by Prof. Dr. Johanna Plendl, Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Veterinär-Anatomie) were propagated in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) (Biochrom™, GmbH, Berlin, Germany), supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS; Pan™ Biotech, Aidenbach, Germany) and 1% P-S. Equine dermal (ED) (CCLV-RIE 1222, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Germany) were grown in Iscove’s modified Dulbecco’s medium (IMDM; Pan™ Biotech, Aidenbach, Germany), supplemented with 20% FBS, 1 mM sodium pyruvate (Pan™), 1% nonessential amino acids (NEA; Biochrom™ GmbH, Berlin, Germany), and 1% P-S. Elephant fibroblast (ENL-2) (CCLV-RIE 856, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Greifswald, Germany) were grown in a 1:1 mixture of IMDM and Ham’s F12 (Biochrom™ GmbH, Berlin, Germany) with 20% FBS and 1% P-S. Human rectal tumour cells [15] (HrT-18G) were grown in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS, 2 mM glutamine (Pan™ Biotech, Aidenbach, Germany), 1% NEA, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, and 1% P-S. Whole blood collected from the 54-year-old healthy elephant “Tanja” from Berlin Zoologischer Garten, which had tested negative for EEHV-1, was used for PBMC isolation using Biocoll ® -based gradient centrifugation as described earlier.…”

Effects of Mustelid gammaherpesvirus 1 (MusGHV-1) Reactivation in European Badger (Meles meles) Genital Tracts on Reproductive Fitness

“…Despite these potential impacts on reproduction, herpesvirus reactivation and associated diseases have rarely been investigated in wildlife. In the Carnivora, reported herpesvirus infections belong mostly to the gammaherpesvirinae, and have been documented from casualties [ 26 , 27 ], epidemiological surveys [ 28 , 29 , 30 ], endangered species management [ 31 , 32 , 33 ], or incidentally from studies that were focused on other pathogens [ 31 ]. Here we report for the first time the results of a systematic screening study of wild European badgers ( Meles meles ; henceforth ‘badger’) from populations across the Republic of Ireland, investigating how Mustelid gammaherpesvirus 1 (MusGHV-1) reactivation in genital tracts affects host reproductive performance.…”

Viruses in unexplained encephalitis cases in American black bears (Ursus americanus)

“…Collected tissues were submitted to the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Corvallis, Oregon as part of an investigation of a cluster of cases of non-suppurative encephalitis. That investigation identified a novel gammaherpesvirus, but a specific cause for neurologic disease was not identified [ 14 ].…”

“…Cases [13][14][15][16] had been housed in a wildlife sanctuary in northern California for 10-15 years prior to their deaths. Cases 13-15 were geriatric animals euthanized for progressive mobility…”