Humoral immune responses to phocine herpesvirus-1 in Pacific harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsii) during an outbreak of clinical disease.
Infection with phocine herpesvirus type-1 (PHV-1) has been associated with morbidity and high mortality in neonatal harbor seals (Phoca vitulina). A PHV-1 specific indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to sequentially measure the serological status of 106 harbor seal neonates admitted to a Pacific coast rehabilitation center (total number of sera tested was 371). Early in the season (February-April), the majority of pups had low serum levels of PHV-1 specific antibody. A dramatic increase in PHV-1 specific antibody, involving the majority of hospitalized pups, was observed during a 4-week period in May. This coincided with a high incidence of PHV-1 associated adrenal lesions and mortality. Although there was overall agreement between the timing of seroconversion to PHV-1 and histological evidence of PHV-1 infection, 82.4% of individual pups with adrenalitis had no evidence of a humoral response to PHV-1 at the time of their death. This suggests either a rapid disease course, or an inability to develop a humoral response in some neonatal seals.
Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, Laboratory for Marine Mammal Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
D P
DP
King
A R
AR
Lie
T
T
Goldstein
B M
BM
Aldridge
F M
FM
Gulland
M
M
Haulena
M A
MA
Adkison
L J
LJ
Lowenstine
J L
JL
Stott
D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D000917:Antibody Formation; D015153:Blotting, Western / Q000662:veterinary; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000276:immunology*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*; D046048:Seals, Earless / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D012621:Seasons
D000914:Antibodies, Viral