Emergence of novel equine arteritis virus (EAV) variants during persistent infection in the stallion: origin of the 2007 French EAV outbreak was linked to an EAV strain present in the semen of a persistently infected carrier stallion.
During the summer of 2007, an outbreak of equine viral arteritis (EVA) occurred in Normandy (France). After investigation, a link was suggested between an EAV carrier stallion (A) and the index premise of the outbreak. The full-length nucleotide sequence analysis of a study reference strain (F27) isolated from the lung of a foal revealed a 12,710 nucleotides EAV genome with unique molecular hallmarks in the 5'UTR leader sequence and the ORF1a sequence encoding the non-structural protein 2. The evolution of the viral population in the persistently infected Stallion A was then studied by cloning ORFs 3 and 5 of the EAV genome from four sequential semen samples which were collected between 2000 and 2007. Molecular analysis of the clones confirmed the likely implication of Stallion A in the origin of this outbreak through the yearly emergence of new variants genetically similar to the F27 strain.
Laboratoire Frank Duncombe, IFR ICORE 146, 14053 Caen Cedex 4, France. fabien.miszczak@calvados.fr
Fabien
F
Miszczak
Loïc
L
Legrand
Udeni B R
UB
Balasuriya
Bénédicte
B
Ferry-Abitbol
Jianqiang
J
Zhang
Aymeric
A
Hans
Guillaume
G
Fortier
Stéphane
S
Pronost
Astrid
A
Vabret
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D018174:Arterivirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D001483:Base Sequence; D002353:Carrier State / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D007240:Equartevirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D006736:Horses; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012661:Semen / Q000821:virology*; D016415:Sequence Alignment