Isolation and characterization of bovine herpes virus 5 (BHV5) from cattle in India

Abstract

15Bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV1) and 5 (BHV5) are genetically and antigenically related 16 alphaherpesviruses. Infection with one virus induces protective immunity against the other. 17However, disease associated with BHV1 and BHV5 varies significantly; whereas BHV1 18 infection is usually associated with rhinotracheitis and abortion, BHV5 causes encephalitis in 19 cattle. BHV5 outbreaks are sporadic and mainly restricted to the South American countries. 20 We report BHV5 infection for the first time from aborted cattle in India. Based on the 21 characteristic cytopathic effects in MDBK cells, amplification of the viral genome in PCR, 22 differential PCR for BHV1/BHV5, nucleotide sequencing and restriction endonuclease 23 patterns, identity of the virus was confirmed as BHV5 subtype A. Serum samples from the 24 aborted cattle strongly neutralized both BHV1 and BHV5 suggesting an active viral infection 25 in the herd. Upon UL27, UL44 and UL54 gene-based sequence and phylogenetic analysis, the 26 isolated virus clustered with BHV5 strains and showed highest similarity with the Brazilian 27 BHV5 strains. 28 Author Summary 29BHV5 causes fatal meningoencephalitis that may result in a mortality rate of up to 100% in 30 cattle. BHV5 is rarely associated with abortion and its distribution is restricted to South 31 American countries. Only a few cases of this disease have been reported from other countries. 32For the first time, we provide a strong evidence of BHV5 infection from aborted cattle in 33 India. The finding may necessitate inclusion of BHV5 test protocol in testing of semen for 34 sexually transmitted diseases. Also, the isolated virus would be useful for developing 35 diagnostic, prophylactic and therapeutic agents to combat BHV5 disease in the country. 3 37 Introduction 38 Bovine herpesvirus types 1 (BHV1) and 5 (BHV5) belong to the family Herpesviridae, 39 subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae and genus varicellovirus [1]. They are genetically and 40 antigenically closely related and share ~85% nucleotide identity. BHV1 is prevalent globally 41 and causes infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) in cattle which is characterized by 42 conjunctivitis, rhinotracheitis, balanopostitis, infectious pustular vulvovaginitis, enteritis, 43 abortion and sometimes encephalitis. BHV1 infection results in considerable economic losses 44 due to decreased milk production, weight loss and abortions. 45 BHV5 usually infects young calves and mortality can causes up to 100% [2]. BHV5 46 mainly causes fatal meningoencephalitis in cattle and establishes latency in trigeminal 47 ganglion. The virus is excreted in nasal, ocular and genital secretions upon reactivation 48 (under stress). The clinical signs in affected cattle include depression, anorexia, weakness 49 followed by neurological signs, such as incoordination, muscular tremor, blindness, circling, 50 recumbency, head pressing, convulsions, paddling and death [3]. Occasionally, BHV5 has 51 been shown to be associated with the reproductive disorders [4]. 52 Herpesvirus ass...

Molecular Identification of Bovine Alpha Herpesvirus Subtype 1.1 in Field Isolates in Egypt by Phylogenetic Analysis of Glycoprotein B Gene

“…Closely related alphaherpesvirus (BoHV-5) that was previously known as BoHV-1.3 is associated with encephalitis (Nandi et al, 2009). Antigenically and genetically, BoHV-1 and BoHV-5 are similar, it has been reported that BoHV-5 can be occasionally isolated from the respiratory tract because of its reactivation from latency in trigeminal ganglia and its secretion in nasal discharge (Marin et al, 2016;Kumar et al, 2020).…”

“…The major envelope glycoproteins of BoHV-1 are gB, gC, gD (Niţă et al, 2010), glycoprotein B (gB) is a highly conserved gene and acts as a special target for BoHV-1 detection (Ros and Belák, 1999). Despite there were homology of gB genes among different strains of BoHV-1 (Whetstone et al, 1993), gB gene has enough diversity which allows the building of a phylogenetic tree that can be used to divide the virus into subtypes (Surendra, 2015;Kumar et al, 2020).…”