Investigation of OvHV-2 virus in small ruminants in Western Turkey

Abstract

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a fatal disease of ruminants and has a worldwide distribution. The MCF virus (MCFV) group has currently known to contain 10 members. Ovine gammaherpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2) is one of the members of MCFV group and has economically importance in cattle. Sheep is the reservoir host of OvHV-2 while domestic goat is naturally susceptible species, although infection is generally asymptomatic in goat. In this study, the presence of OvHV-2 was investigated in sheep and goats by hemi-nested PCR in Aegean Region of west Turkey. Total of 138 sheep and goat samples which consist of 73 whole blood, 39 internal organs and 26 aborted fetuses were investigated. Thirty-seven blood samples, four fetal samples, and seven internal organ samples were found to be OvHV-2 positive. While 47 of the total sheep samples were found to be positive, only one goat sample was found positive. Similarly, previous studies have shown that prevalence of OvHV-2 in goats lower than sheep.

Molecular epidemiolgy of ovine herpesvirus-2 in small ruminants, Sistan region, Iran

“…The Detection of positive samples in the lambs by amplifying the POL and ORF75 tegument protein gene of OvHV-2 in this study corroborates the ndings of Li et al (1998), who reported that OvHV-2 could be transmitted horizontally to lambs in the herd and shed the virus at-5-6 months old [30]. Additionally, Li et al ( 2001) indicated that OvHV-2 can infect fetuses during pregnancy [27], as reported by Pekmez et al [24]. The ndings for the virus in different age groups suggest that the virus is endemic to the area, as reported by Mananguit et al in Philippines [31] and Khudhair in Iraq [14].…”