title: Epidemiological characteristics of bovine herpesvirus 1 infections determined by bulk milk testing of all Dutch dairy herds.
abstract: Samples of bulk milk were taken from all 33,636 Dutch dairy herds in November 1994 and tested for the presence of bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) antibodies with a gB-blocking ELISA. Sixteen per cent of the herds had a negative BHV-1 status in the bulk milk. Farms with only dairy cows were 1.9 times more likely to have a negative or weakly positive BHV-1 status than herds which also had beef/veal animals. Farms in areas containing less than one herd/km2 were 1.5 times more likely to have a negative or weakly positive BHV-1 status than herds in areas with more than three herds/km2. Differences in numbers of animals per unit area were not significantly associated with BHV-1 status. The probability of herds having a negative or weakly positive BHV-1 status decreased linearly with herd size by a factor of 1.2 per 10 animals. The purchase of stock was significantly associated with a negative or weakly positive BHV-1 status, but there was an interaction between farm type and purchase of stock. For farms with both dairy and beef/veal animals there was a weak association between the purchase of stock and BHV-1 status. For pure dairy herds the probability of having a negative or weakly positive BHV-1 status decreased linearly with the numbers of purchased stock by a factor of 1.3 per 10 animals purchased.
authors.affiliation: Animal Health Service, Deventer, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van Wuijckhuise
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bosch
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Franken
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Frankena
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Elbers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D007242:Herpesvirus 1, Bovine / Q000276:immunology*; D008892:Milk / Q000382:microbiology*; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral