Antigenic and genetic characterisation of border disease viruses isolated from UK cattle

Abstract

International audienceAvailable empirical data on the natural occurrence of ruminant pestiviruses has shown that bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) is nearly exclusively found in cattle, whereas both border disease virus (BDV) and BVDV can be isolated from sheep. During routine genetic typing of pestivirus RNA from UK cattle diagnosed as BVDV positive between 2006 and 2008, five samples that were classified as BDV positive yielded positive virus isolates in cell cultures. The samples originated from animals that had shown signs typical for BVD. Phylogenetic analysis of the bovine BDVs showed that two belonged to the BDV-1a group and three to the BDV-1b group, thereby matching the genetic diversity seen for previously described UK ovine BDVs. Antigenic typing with a set of monoclonal antibodies (MABs) showed that all bovine BDVs lacked one or more epitopes conserved among ovine BDV-1 isolates, and that they had gained reactivity with at least one BVDV-1 specific MAB. Serial passaging of two of the virus isolates in ovine cell cultures did not change the epitope expression pattern. These findings suggest that the presumed natural resistance of cattle against infection with BDV no longer holds. A consequence of this is that BVD diagnostic assays should be checked for their ability to also detect BDV, and also highlights the need for monitoring of the BDV status in sheep that may be in contact with cattle in areas with organised BVD control programmes

Chinese border disease virus strain JSLS12-01 infects piglets and down-regulates the antibody responses of classical swine fever virus C strain vaccination

“…There is some evidence of natural infections with BDV in cattle [12][13][14]. Between 2001 and 2007, several outbreaks of the diseases associated with BDV infection were reported in the central Pyrenees (northeast Spain), resulting in a major reduction in chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica) populations.…”

BVDV control program in Austria - is a monitoring of the BDV status in sheep in Austria necessary?

“…Hornberg et al (2009) described in a retrospective study for the first time BDV-3 in a cattle in Tyrol, a neighbour state of Salzburg and Vorarlberg. However, BDV in cattle was uncommon and other than that mentioned by Hornberg et al (2009), BDV in cattle has only been described in England by Cranwell et al (2007) and Strong et al (2009). Hornberg et al (2009) suspected sheep as the source of infection of the cattle described.…”

“…However, in consideration of the fact that large sheep breeding countries like UK or New Zealand have only voluntary BVDV eradication programs among cattle and they also use vaccines against BVDV in cattle (Reichel et al, 2008;Heffernan et al, 2009), sheep persistently infected with BDV are inconsiderable for the pestivirus epidemiology there and an investigation of the sheep population for BDV in those countries would be uneconomic. In spite of this fact Strong et al (2009) suggest a monitoring of the BDV status in sheep that may be in contact with cattle in areas with organised BVD control programmes in the UK.…”

“…Phylogenetic analyses of pestivirus isolates originating from sheep and goats revealed that BVDV in sheep and goats is not uncommon (Vilcek et al, 1997;Pratelli et al, 2001;Giangaspero and Harasawa, 2004;Krametter-Froetscher et al, 2008a). In contrast BDV in cattle has only been described in a cattle orginating from Tyrol, a Federal state of Austria (Hornberg et al, 2009) and in five cases orginating from England and Wales (Cranwell et al, 2007;Strong et al, 2009). The BDV isolate described by Hornberg et al (2009) showed a high similarity at the nucleotide level to the BDV strains detected by Krametter-Froetscher et al (2007a) in sheep in Vorarlberg a neighbour state of Tyrol.…”

Molecular and serological investigation of border disease virus infection in sheep in the Kars District of Turkey

“…At present, the 5' UTR, N pro and E2 regions are most often used (Strong et al 2009). In recent years, it was announced that BDV circulation in sheep might be a new subgroup in Turkey.…”