Malignant catarrhal fever in an Indian gaur and greater kudu: experimental transmission, isolation, and identification of a herpesvirus.
Herpesviruses were isolated in bovine cell cultures from buffy coat cells obtained from an Indian gaur (Bos gaurus) and a greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) with clinical signs of the head and eye form of malignant catarrhal fever (MCF). Both animals were from herds housed in a zoologic park in Oklahoma. Serial transmission of the head and eye form of MCF was accomplished by using whole blood from the gaur into a Hereford-Angus heifer, then whole blood from the heifer into a Holstein calf, and finally, whole blood from the calf into a white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). A herpesvirus was isolated in bovine cell cultures inoculated with buffy coat cells from the heifer, and 2 deer inoculated with this herpesvirus developed the head and eye form of MCF. A deer inoculated with whole blood from the greater kudu also developed clinical signs of MCF, and a herpesvirus was subsequently recovered from the deer. Clinical signs of MCF included a mucopurulent catarrh, pyrexia (38.8 to 42.1 C), anorexia, and corneal opacity, and death occurred between postinoculation days 15 and 21.
D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo; D001188:Artiodactyla; D002417:Cattle; D046508:Culture Techniques; D003670:Deer; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary*; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007668:Kidney; D008304:Malignant Catarrh / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission*