Ovine herpesvirus 2 structural proteins in epithelial cells and M-cells of the appendix in rabbits with malignant catarrhal fever

Characterization of ovine herpesvirus 2-induced malignant catarrhal fever in rabbits

“…The study on rabbits with AlHV-1 induced MCF showed latency was the predominant phenomenon detected, indicated by ORF 73 transcripts in tissues (Dewals et al, 2008), which is in contrast to a lytic gene expression profile, indicated by detection of ORF25, ORF50 and ORF73 transcripts, observed in the rabbits with OvHV-2 induced MCF in the current study. An earlier study on detection of OvHV-2 structural proteins and mRNA transcripts in clinically affected rabbits using in situ methods (Meier-Trummer et al, 2009b) supports the lytic gene expression profile observed in this study. However, two putative OvHV-2 structural proteins (coded by ORF43 and ORF63 genes) and their mRNA were detected only in the appendix (MeierTrummer et al, 2009b), while the transcripts of ORFs 25, 50 and 73 were present in virtually all tissues examined in our study.…”

Malignant Catarrhal Fever: Understanding Molecular Diagnostics in Context of Epidemiology

“…The in situ PCR specific for OvHV-2 was initially thought to have diagnostic potential [82], but it was shown to be technically difficult for adaptation as a routine diagnostic tool. Recent studies showed that the OvHV-2 major capsid protein is detected in sheep lung during initial pulmonary viral replication [83] and in rabbit tissues with OvHV-2 induced MCF [84]. Further data showed that the OvHV-2 ORF 25 gene encoding the major capsid protein was highly expressed in tissues of bison with experimentally induced MCF, and levels of the transcripts were significantly co-related with lesion severity [85,86].…”

Molecular and Histopathological Characterization of Sheep-Associated Malignant Catarrhal Fever (SA-MCF) Outbreak in Beef Cattle

“…These viruses are the causative agents of both wildebeest (or African)‐associated MCF and sheep‐associated MCF, respectively (Plowright et al., ; McGeoch et al., ). A complete genome sequence of both viruses (AlHV‐1, OvHV‐2) has been published, with the genomes consisting of 130 608 and 135 621 bp, respectively (Ensser et al., ; Taus et al., ; Meier‐Trummer et al., ).…”