title: Laboratory Findings Suggesting an Association Between BoHV-4 and Bovine Abortions in Southern Belgium.
abstract: Abortions cause heavy economic losses for the bovine sector. The use of a standardized panel of analyses covering a large spectrum of pathogens responsible of abortion in cattle allowed demonstrating the direct involvement of at least one pathogen in 57% of analysed abortions in the southern part of Belgium. This result suggests a margin of improvement in the diagnostic efficacy. In order to evaluate the interest to broaden the list of pathogens included in the panel of analyses, the implication of bovine herpesvirus 4 (BoHV-4) in abortion was assessed by two different studies. In the first study, coupled serology was performed after abortion on 714 dams to identify specific seroconversion against BoHV-4. The overall seroconversion in cows was 19.5%, with a higher frequency in primiparous compared to multiparous females. In addition, the type of breed (beef cattle) and the time period from the fourth quarter 2008 until the last quarter 2009 were significantly related to the seroconversion of cows. The second study investigated the virus ability to infect the foetus. In this study, 368 cases of bovine abortions were specifically tested for BoHV-4, using PCR on foetus tissues and ELISA on dam and foetus sera. The results showed a maternal seroprevalence of 64.7%, a foetal seroprevalence of 0.8% and a PCR prevalence in foetuses of 1.1%, demonstrating the ability of BoHV-4 to infect the foetus.
authors.affiliation: Département Santé Animale, Association Régionale de Santé et d'Identification Animales - ASBL, Ciney, Belgium.|Research Unit of Epidemiology and Risk Analysis applied to Veterinary Sciences (UREAR-ULg), Centre for Fundamental and Applied Research for Animals & Health (FARAH), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Delooz
authors.affiliation: Département Santé Animale, Association Régionale de Santé et d'Identification Animales - ASBL, Ciney, Belgium.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Czaplicki
authors.affiliation: Département Santé Animale, Association Régionale de Santé et d'Identification Animales - ASBL, Ciney, Belgium.
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Houtain
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of Epidemiology and Risk Analysis applied to Veterinary Sciences (UREAR-ULg), Centre for Fundamental and Applied Research for Animals & Health (FARAH), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dal Pozzo
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of Epidemiology and Risk Analysis applied to Veterinary Sciences (UREAR-ULg), Centre for Fundamental and Applied Research for Animals & Health (FARAH), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saegerman
mesh_terms: D037881:Aborted Fetus / Q000821:virology*; D000034:Abortion, Veterinary / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D000818:Animals; D001530:Belgium; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D026021:Herpesvirus 4, Bovine / Q000502:physiology; D010298:Parity; D015995:Prevalence; D012621:Seasons; D000069078:Seroconversion; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology
keywords: Belgium; abortion; bovine herpesvirus 4 (BoHV-4); cattle; epidemiology; pathogenesis