title: Malignant catarrhal fever in American bison (Bison bison) experimentally infected with alcelaphine herpesvirus 2.
abstract: Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF), due to ovine herpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2), causes appreciable death loss in ranched bison (Bison bison) throughout North America. No vaccine exists to protect animals from disease. Since OvHV-2 has not been propagated in vitro, one strategy to develop a modified live vaccine is to use a closely related, non-pathogenic member of the malignant catarrhal fever virus family as a vector expressing potentially protective OvHV-2 epitopes. To date, no controlled experimental challenge studies with alcelaphine herpesvirus 2 (AlHV-2) derived from topi (Damaliscus lunatus jimela) have been reported The unique or light DNA segment of the AlHV-2 genome was sequenced and annotated and the virus was tested for its ability to infect and induce disease in American bison. Yearling bison were inoculated intranasally (n=4) or intramuscularly (n=3) with 2 × 10(-4.7) TCID50 of AlHV-2, and monitored for infection and the development of disease. Six inoculated bison became infected with AlHV-2. Two of the six animals developed clinical signs and had gross and histological lesions consistent with terminal MCF, which differed in distribution from those in bison with MCF due to OvHV-2. One other animal developed minor clinical signs and had gross and histological pulmonary lesions consistent with early (pre-clinical) stages of MCF. Unmodified low cell culture passage AlHV-2 derived from topi is an unsuitable vaccine vector for the prevention of MCF. However, the annotated genome might be useful in identifying genes which could be deleted to potentially attenuate the virus for bison.
authors.affiliation: USDA-ARS-ADRU, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6630, USA. Electronic address: tausns@vetmed.wsu.edu.
authors.forename: Naomi S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Taus
authors.affiliation: Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82070, USA.
authors.forename: Donal
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: O'Toole
authors.affiliation: USDA-ARS-ADRU, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6630, USA.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Herndon
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-7040, USA.
authors.forename: Cristina W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Cunha
authors.affiliation: National Veterinary Services Laboratories, USDA, Ames, IA 50010, USA.
authors.forename: Janet V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Warg
authors.affiliation: Poultry Microbiological Safety Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Athens, GA 30605, USA.
authors.forename: Bruce S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Seal
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-7040, USA.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brooking
authors.affiliation: USDA-ARS-ADRU, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6630, USA.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016164:Bison / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D018142:Gammaherpesvirinae / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008304:Malignant Catarrh / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D018144:Rhadinovirus / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014481:United States; D019562:Viral Load
keywords: AlHV-2; American bison; Malignant catarrhal fever; OvHV-2