title: Virulence comparison and quantification of horizontal bovine viral diarrhoea virus transmission following experimental infection in calves.
abstract: Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) causes persistent infections by infecting the fetus of susceptible animals during gestation. These persistently infected (PI) animals are important sources of infection. On the contrary, transiently infected (TI) animals are believed to be less important, but transient infections with a severe BVDV-2 strain can spread explosively. To assess the importance of TI cattle in the epidemiology of BVDV, two experimental infections were performed to determine basic reproduction ratios (R0). In each experiment three calves were infected via intranasal inoculation and housed together with seven susceptible animals. Two strains isolated in Belgium were used, a virulent BVDV-1b and a virulent BVDV-2a field isolate, resulting in an R0 of 0.25 (95% CI 0.01; 1.95) and 0.24 (95% CI 0.01; 2.11), respectively. A PI animal was then introduced to the remaining uninfected animals and produced an R of +∞ (95% CI 1.88; +∞). These results support the suggestion that TI animals, compared to PI animals, contribute only a limited amount to BVDV spread. Additionally, the severe clinical symptoms observed in the field with these isolates could not be reproduced during these experiments, suggesting that other factors besides strain virulence influence the clinical manifestations evoked by BVDV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproduction, Obstetrics and Herd Health, Veterinary Epidemiology Unit, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium. Electronic address: steven.sarrazin@ugent.be.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sarrazin
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproduction, Obstetrics and Herd Health, Veterinary Epidemiology Unit, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dewulf
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Molecular Platform Unit, Veterinary and Agrochemical Research Centre, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mathijs
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproduction, Obstetrics and Herd Health, Veterinary Epidemiology Unit, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Laureyns
authors.affiliation: Experimental Centre, Veterinary and Agrochemical Research Centre, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mostin
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Enzootic and (re)emerging Viral Diseases Unit, Veterinary and Agrochemical Research Centre, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Cay
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001530:Belgium; D001912:Bovine Virus Diarrhea-Mucosal Disease / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission*; D002417:Cattle; D030241:Diarrhea Virus 1, Bovine Viral / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D030242:Diarrhea Virus 2, Bovine Viral / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence
keywords: Bovine viral diarrhoea virus; Experimental infection; Horizontal transmission; Reproduction ratio; Virulence