title: Concurrent testing of breeding bulls for bovineherpes virus 1 infection (BHV-1) in India.
abstract: In this study, sera from 65 breeding and 19 training bulls from Uttar Pradesh State in north India were tested for bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) antibodies by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and virus neutralization test (VNT). The VNT test could detect 56 (86.15%) and 9 (47.37%) of the samples from breeding and training bulls as positive for BHV-1 antibodies whereas in ELISA 63 (96.92%) and 10 (52.63%) were found positive, respectively. Semen samples from the breeding bulls were simultaneously tested by the Taqman based real time PCR (qPCR). Of the 65 samples screened, only 40 (61.54%) were found to contain BHV-1 DNA indicating that all the seropositive bulls are not shedding the virus in semen. When the RT-PCR positive samples were subjected to virus isolation on Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells, no virus isolates could be obtained. The advantages of concomitant testing of serum and semen of breeding bulls and measures for control of BHV-1 infections in bull farms are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Virus Laboratory, Centre for Animal Disease Research and Diagnosis, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh, PIN 243 122 India. chinturavi@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: Chintu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ravishankar
authors.forename: Sukdeb
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nandi
authors.forename: Vishal
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chander
authors.forename: Tapas Kumar
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Mohapatra
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D001947:Breeding; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000821:virology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D007242:Herpesvirus 1, Bovine / Q000276:immunology; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D012661:Semen / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral