Canine distemper virus from diseased large felids: biological properties and phylogenetic relationships

Abstract

Specific pathogen free (SPF) domestic cats were inoculated with tissue homogenate obtained from a Chinese leopard (Panthera pardusjaponensis) that had died in a North American zoo from a natural infection with canine distemper virus (CDV). The cats developed a transient cell-associated CDV viraemia along with pronounced lymphopenia but did not show any clinical symptoms. Plasma neutralizing-antibody titres against the homologous CDV (A92-27/4, isolated from the Chinese leopard) were consistently higher than against the CDV vaccine strain 'Bussell'. The Chinese leopard CDV isolate showed in vitro biological properties reminiscent of virulent, wild-type CDV strains. Sequence analysis of the H gene of two large felid CDV isolates from the USA (A92-27/4 and A92-6) revealed up to 10 % amino acid changes including up to four additional potential N-linked glycosylation sites in the extracytoplasmic domain as compared to CDV vaccine strains. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using the entire coding region of the H gene and a 388 bp fragment of the P gene of several morbillivirus species. Evidence was obtained that recent CDV isolates from different species in the United States (including isolates from large felids), Europe and Africa are significantly distinct from CDV vaccine strains. All wild-type CDV isolates analysed clustered according to geographical distribution rather than to host species origin. By sequence analysis a CDV epizootic among large felids in a Californian safari park was linked to a virus which most likely originated from feral non-felid carnivores.

Molecular Identification of a Recent Type of Canine Distemper Virus in Japan by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism.

“…This means that foreign isolates could not be distinguished from vaccine strains by our assay, and that the mutation at nt 650 in the H gene is unique to recent Japanese field isolates. These findings are in agreement with the suggestion that recent field isolates of CDV can be subdivided into phylogenetic clusters reflecting their geographical origin [4,9,10,12].…”

“…Based on sequence data in GenBank or EMBL databases, we searched for the EcoRV site in various recent isolates, 1493/Han89 (X84999), 5804/ Han90 (X85000), Mink/DK86 (Z47759), Dog/GR88 (Z47760), Dog/DK91, B+C (Z47761), Dog/US89 (Z47762), Leopard/US91 (Z47763), Javelina/US89 (Z47764), Raccoon/US89 (Z47765), 404 (Z77671), 2544 (Z77672) and 4513 (Z77673) [4,9,10,15]. None of them has the EcoRV site analyzed in this study.…”

“…Similarly, during the last decade, many outbreaks of CD have been reported in several parts of the world [1-4, 9, 15, 17]. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the recent field isolates of canine distemper virus (CDV) make a cluster which is separate from the vaccine strains, and also suggested the presence of different lineages of CDV in the world [4,9,10,12].…”

Canine Distemper Virus–associated Encephalitis in Free-Living Lynx (Lynx Canadensis) and Bobcats (Lynx Rufus) of Eastern Canada

“…Therefore, identification of a protozoal infection in this bobcat was not surprising. Activation of infection by T. gondii secondary to immunodeficiency (Harder et al, 1995(Harder et al, , 1996; Gray fox/USA/92: gray fox A92-9A, USA, 1992 (Harder et al, 1995(Harder et al, , 1996; Raccoon/USA/01: raccoon brain 01-2689, USA, 2001 (AY649446); Bobcat/Canada/94: bobcat 94-X5538, Canada, 1994 (this study) (FJ240228); Lynx/Canada/96-99: lynx 97-X6984, Canada, 1996-99 (this study) (FJ240229); Bat-eared fox/Tanzania/94: bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis) 94-200, Tanzania, 1994 (U53714); African wild dog/Tanzania/07: X6511, African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), Tanzania, 2007 (EU481827); Lion1/ Tanzania/94: lion 94-28/PLE, Tanzania, 1994 (Harder et al, 1995(Harder et al, , 1996; Lion2/Tanzania/94: lion 94-52.10, Tanzania, 1994 (U53712); Fox/China: fox HLJ1-06, China (EU545143); Dog/Japan/92-94: dog, Hamamatsu, Japan, 1992-94 (AB028915).…”

Importance of canine distemper virus (CDV) infection in free-ranging Iberian lynxes (Lynx pardinus)

“…To obtain information about the origin and the relationship to other strains the entire H gene and a part of the P gene from the CDV of the lynx and the stone marten were sequenced. For phylogenetic analysis the H gene was used as it shows the highest antigenic variation in morbilliviruses (Harder et al, 1996;Mochizuki et al, 1999;Pardo et al, 2005;Martella et al, 2006). The H genes of lynx and marten were identical and showed a very close relationship to the European dog lineage of CDV, however they formed a cluster separate from the sequences identified as "Europe-wildlife" (Martella et al, 2006) as well as from CDV isolates from other continents.…”