High prevalence of Borna disease virus infection in healthy sheep in Japan.
Previous seroepidemiological and molecular epidemiological studies of Borna disease virus (BDV) showed considerably high rates of infection in horses, cattle, cats, and humans in Hokkaido, Japan. Here, we further demonstrate high rates of specific antibodies to BDV and BDV RNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy sheep bred on the same island. The BDV prevalences by immunoblotting and/or reverse transcriptase PCR were 0% (0 of 19) in newborns (<1 month old), 51.7% (15 of 29) in lambs (1 to 6 months old), and 36.7% (11 of 30) in adults (>2 years old). Among animals positive for BDV, 60% of lambs and 45.5% of adults contained BDV RNA in PBMCs while 46.7% of lambs and 90.9% of adults contained specific antibodies to BDV. Thus, it is suggested that virus replication in the blood, as observed in lambs, is usually reduced in adulthood by raising immune responses to BDV.
Hagiwara
K
K
Section of Serology, Institute of Immunological Science, Hokkaido University, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Japan.
Kawamoto
S
S
Takahashi
H
H
Nakamura
Y
Y
Nakaya
T
T
Hiramune
T
T
Ishihara
C
C
Ikuta
K
K
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D001483:Base Sequence; D001890:Borna Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D001891:Borna disease virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001921:Brain / Q000821:virology; D002415:Cats; D002417:Cattle; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D006736:Horses; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins; C084757:p24 protein, Borna disease virus