Sheep persistently infected with Border disease readily transmit virus to calves seronegative to BVD virus

Abstract

Bovine viral diarrhea-and Border disease viruses of sheep belong to the highly diverse genus pestivirus of the Flaviviridae. Ruminant pestiviruses may infect a wide range of domestic and wild cloven-hooved mammals (artiodactyla). Due to its economic importance, programs to eradicate bovine viral diarrhea are a high priority in the cattle industry. By contrast, Border disease is not a target of eradication, although the Border disease virus is known to be capable of also infecting cattle. In this work, we compared single dose experimental inoculation of calves with Border disease virus with co-mingling of calves with sheep persistently infected with this virus. As indicated by seroconversion, infection was achieved only in one out of seven calves with a dose of Border disease virus that was previously shown to be successful in calves inoculated with BVD virus. By contrast, all calves kept together with persistently infected sheep readily became infected with Border disease virus. The ease of viral transmission from sheep to cattle and the antigenic similarity of bovine and ovine pestiviruses may become a problem for demonstrating freedom of BVD by serology in the cattle population.

Influence of border disease virus (BDV) on serological surveillance within the bovine virus diarrhea (BVD) eradication program in Switzerland

“…As the sample size of seropositive farms was limited, the power of the study was not sufficient to identify risk factors with weak association. Nonetheless, the final model confirms previous reports that pointed to the relevance of common housing of sheep and cattle as a main risk factor [19, 23, 44, 70]. In particular, sheep persistently infected with BDV pose a considerable risk when housed together with BVDV-free livestock.…”

“…Virus transmission was described between cattle and both, sheep and goats ([19, 43, 44], and references therein). Natural infections of cattle with BDV were reported in England and Wales [45, 46], Austria [47, 48], Italy [49] and New Zealand [50].…”

“…Natural infections of cattle with BDV were reported in England and Wales [45, 46], Austria [47, 48], Italy [49] and New Zealand [50]. Common housing of cattle with persistently infected sheep was the most important cause for seroconversions, and resulted in reduced fertility and abortions in pregnant cows [19, 44, 46]. BDV-specific seroconversion in cattle was reported in Switzerland after pasturing them with BDV-positive sheep on common alpine meadows [51].…”

Absence of circulation of Pestivirus between wild and domestic ruminants in southern Spain

“…Interestingly, significantly higher antibody titres to BDV-4 compared with BVDV-NADL were found in one cattle farm, which suggests BDV circulation in this herd. BDV transmission from sheep to cattle has been previously reported (Braun and others 2014). Therefore, the differentiation of pestivirus species using VNT is essential to describe the epidemiology of these viruses both intraspecies and interspecies (Rosell and others 2014).…”

Detection of border disease virus in Mexican cattle

“…Transmission of BDV between sheep and cattle is possible and occurs in the field through the close contact between domestic ruminants. Therefore, field and experimental infections have been reported in the past (Braun et al., ; Krametter‐Froetscher, Benetka, Moestl, & Baumgartner, ). To obtain epidemiological information about BDV, studies have been performed to determine the prevalence of the virus detected in sheep and cattle from various countries (Albayrak, Gumusova, Ozan, & Yazici, ; Dubois et al., ; Giangaspero et al., ).…”