title: Antibodies against bovine herpesvirus 4 are highly prevalent in wild African buffaloes throughout eastern and southern Africa.
abstract: Bovine herpesvirus 4 (BoHV-4) has been isolated from cattle throughout the world. Interestingly, a survey of wild African buffaloes mainly from the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya revealed that 94% of the animals tested had anti-BoHV-4 antibodies [Rossiter, P.B., Gumm, I.D., Stagg, D.A., Conrad, P.A., Mukolwe, S., Davies, F.G., White, H., 1989. Isolation of bovine herpesvirus-3 from African buffaloes (Syncerus caffer). Res. Vet. Sci. 46, 337-343]. These authors also proposed that the serological antigenic relationship existing between BoHV-4 and alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 (AlHV-1) could confer to BoHV-4 infected buffaloes a protective immune response against lethal AlHV-1 infection. In the present study, we addressed two questions related to Rossiter et al. paper. Firstly, to investigate the role of the African buffalo as a natural host species of BoHV-4, the seroprevalence of anti-BoHV-4 antibodies was analysed in wild African buffaloes throughout eastern and southern Africa. A total of 400 sera was analysed using two complementary immunofluorescent assays. These analyses revealed that independently of their geographical origin, wild African buffaloes exhibit a seroprevalence of anti-BoHV-4 antibodies higher than 68%. This result is by far above the seroprevalence generally observed in cattle. Our data are discussed in the light of our recent phylogenetic study demonstrating that the BoHV-4 Bo17 gene has been acquired from a recent ancestor of the African buffalo. Secondly, we investigated the humoral antigenic relationship existing between BoHV-4 and AlHV-1. Our results demonstrate that among the antigens expressed in AlHV-1 infected cells, epitope(s) recognised by anti-BoHV-4 antibodies are exclusively nuclear, suggesting that the putative property of BoHV-4 to confer an immune protection against AlHV-1 relies on a cellular rather than on a humoral immune response.
authors.affiliation: Immunology-Vaccinology (B43b), Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dewals
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gillet
authors.forename: Truuske
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gerdes
authors.forename: Evans L N
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Taracha
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Thiry
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vanderplasschen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002020:Buffaloes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D002460:Cell Line; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*; D007630:Kenya / Q000453:epidemiology; D018144:Rhadinovirus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*; D014454:Uganda / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral