Abortions in dromedaries (Camelus dromedarius) caused by equine rhinitis A virus.
A virus was isolated from aborted dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) fetuses during an abortion storm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Laboratory investigations showed the causative agent to be indistinguishable from equine rhinitis A virus (ERAV), a picornavirus. Two pregnant dromedaries experimentally infected with the camel virus isolate both aborted and an identical virus was reisolated from both fetuses, thus confirming the diagnosis. The extremely high prevalence of antibody (>90 %) and the high titres recorded against ERAV in the dromedary herd clearly showed that ERAV does infect dromedaries. Unlike horses, where ERAV targets the upper respiratory tract, in dromedaries the target organ appears to be the genital tract.
Wernery
Ulrich
U
Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, PO Box 597, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Knowles
Nick J
NJ
Institute for Animal Health (IAH), Pirbright Laboratory, Ash Road, Pirbright, Woking, Surrey GU24 0NF, UK.
Hamblin
Chris
C
Institute for Animal Health (IAH), Pirbright Laboratory, Ash Road, Pirbright, Woking, Surrey GU24 0NF, UK.
Wernery
Renate
R
Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, PO Box 597, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Joseph
Sunitha
S
Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, PO Box 597, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Kinne
Joerg
J
Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, PO Box 597, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Nagy
Peter
P
Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, PO Box 597, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
D000034:Abortion, Veterinary / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D000818:Animals; D005537:Aphthovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002162:Camelus / Q000821:virology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D010850:Picornaviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000662:veterinary / Q000821:virology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA