Neuropathogenic and non-neuropathogenic genotypes of Equid Herpesvirus type 1 in Argentina.
Infection with Equid Herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) leads to respiratory disease, abortion, and neurological disorders in horses. Molecular epidemiology studies have demonstrated that a single nucleotide polymorphism (A(2254)/G(2254)) in the genome region of the open reading frame 30 (ORF30), which results in an amino acid variation (N(752)/D(752)) of the EHV-1 DNA polymerase, is significantly associated with the neuropathogenic potential of naturally occurring strains. In order to estimate the prevalence of the EHV-1 neuropathogenic genotype in our country, we analyzed the ORF30 genome region of Argentinean EHV-1 isolates. The study was carried out by real time allelic discrimination PCR in 90 equine EHV-1-positive samples, being 89 from 54 cases of abortion outbreaks (two of which were in association with neurological disease) and one from the respiratory tract of a healthy horse in training. Our results indicate that 7% (4/54) of the abortion outbreaks studied were induced by the neuropathogenic (G(2254)) genotype of EHV-1 and 50% (2/4) of them were associated with simultaneous neurological disease. This information emphasizes the necessity to extreme the hygienic and preventive measures to diminish EHV-1 infections and consequently reduce the risk of epizootic neurological disease as has been recently observed in other countries.
Vissani
M A
MA
Instituto de Virología, CICVyA, INTA. Las Cabañas y los Reseros s/n, (1712) Castelar, Buenos Aires, Argentina. avissani@cnia.inta.gov.ar
Becerra
M L
ML
Olguín Perglione
C
C
Tordoya
M S
MS
Miño
S
S
Barrandeguy
M
M
D000818:Animals; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D004861:Herpesvirus 1, Equid / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D006736:Horses; D051379:Mice; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D011247:Pregnancy
D004279:DNA, Viral