Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Herpesvirus infection in Cervidae

1988; World Organisation for Animal Health; Volume: 7; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.20506/rst.7.4.384

1608-0653

P. Nettleton, Etienne Thiry, H.W. Reid, P-P PASTORET,

Animal Disease Management and Epidemiology

Summary: The earliest evidence of herpesvirus infections of Cervidae came from testing free-living deer for antibody to bovine herpesviruses pathogenic to cattle. Antibody to the cattle alphaherpesvirus bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BHV-1), the causative agent of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), has been demonstrated in mule deer, white-tailed deer and caribou in North America and in red deer, roe deer, reindeer and fallow deer in Europe. Alphaherpesviruses serologically related to BHV-1 have been isolated from red deer and reindeer. The red deer virus, herpesvirus of Cervidae type 1 (HVC-1), was recovered from farmed red deer calves with ocular disease. The reindeer virus was isolated from an animal which had been treated with dexamethasone and no disease attributable to a herpesvirus has been seen in this species. Biochemical and serological studies have demonstrated that these two viruses are distinct from each other and from BHV-1. Experimental infections of cattle with the two viruses have induced no or mild disease. The one serious disease recognised in Cervidae due to herpesvirus infection is malignant catarrhal fever (MCF). The wildebeest-associated gammaherpesvirus, alcelaphine herpesvirus-1 (AHV-1), has caused deaths of white-tailed deer, sika deer, barasingha deer and reindeer among captive populations in zoological parks, while MCF due to the sheep-associated agent, believed to be a gammaherpesvirus, is common among several species of farmed deer and represents a serious threat to these new domestic livestock. Deer do not shed infectivity, thus the disease does not spread from affected animals. The disease has not been reported to affect free-living animals.