Experimental infection of ostriches with Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus.
Following the occurrence of an outbreak of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) among workers at an ostrich abattoir in South Africa in 1996, 9 susceptible young ostriches were infected subcutaneously with the virus in order to study the nature of the infection which they undergo. The ostriches developed viraemia which was demonstrable on days 1-4 following infection, with a maximum intensity of 4.0 log10 mouse intracerebral LD50/ml being recorded on day 2 in 1 of the birds. Virus was detectable in visceral organs such as spleen, liver and kidney up to day 5 post-inoculation, 1 day after it could no longer be found in blood. No infective virus was detected in samples of muscle, but viral nucleic acid was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in muscle from a bird sacrificed on day 3 following infection. It was concluded that the occurrence of infection in ostriches at abattoirs could be prevented by keeping the birds free of ticks for 14 days before slaughter.
Swanepoel
R
R
National Institute for Virology and Department of Virology, University of the Witwatersrand, Sandringham, South Africa.
Leman
P A
PA
Burt
F J
FJ
Jardine
J
J
Verwoerd
D J
DJ
Capua
I
I
Brückner
G K
GK
Burger
W P
WP
D000003:Abattoirs; D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control; D005506:Food Contamination; D003225:Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Crimean-Congo / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006479:Hemorrhagic Fever, Crimean / Q000662:veterinary*; D020310:Struthioniformes / Q000821:virology*; D013987:Ticks / Q000821:virology; D014766:Viremia