title: Identification and characterization of two novel viruses in ocular infections in reindeer.
abstract: A thorough understanding of virus diversity in wildlife provides epidemiological baseline information about pathogens. In this study, eye swab samples were obtained from semi-domesticated reindeer (Rangifertarandus tarandus) in Norway during an outbreak of infectious eye disease, possibly a very early stage of infectious keratoconjunctivitis (IKC). Large scale molecular virus screening, based on host nucleic acid depletion, sequence-independent amplification and next-generation sequencing of partially purified viral nucleic acid, revealed the presence of a new papillomavirus in 2 out of 8 eye swab samples and a new betaherpesvirus in 3 out of 8 eye swab samples collected from animals with clinical signs and not in similar samples in 9 animals without clinical signs. Whether either virus was responsible for causing the clinical signs or in any respect was associated to the disease condition remains to be determined.
authors.affiliation: ViroClinics BioSciences BV, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Saskia L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Smits
authors.forename: Claudia M E
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Schapendonk
authors.forename: Marije
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Leeuwen
authors.forename: Thijs
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuiken
authors.forename: Rogier
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bodewes
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Stalin Raj
authors.forename: Bart L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Haagmans
authors.forename: Carlos G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: das Neves
authors.forename: Morten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tryland
authors.forename: Albert D M E
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Osterhaus
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015817:Eye Infections / Q000821:virology*; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012053:Reindeer / Q000821:virology*