Isolation of Equine Herpesvirus-5 from Blood Mononuclear Cells of a Gelding

Abstract

Abstract. Horses are commonly infected by herpesviruses, but isolation of equine herpesvirus-5 (EHV-5) has only infrequently been reported. We describe the isolation and characterization of a strain of EHV-5 from the blood mononuclear cells of a healthy adult horse in California. The virus was initially identified by EHV-5 specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and it caused lytic infection of cultured rabbit kidney cells only after repeated serial passage. Virions with characteristic herpesvirus morphology were readily demonstrated in cell culture lysate by transmission electron microscopy. A portion of the glycoprotein B gene of this strain of EHV-5 had 99% identity to the published EHV-5 sequence, and it was clearly distinguishable from other EHV (1-4) by virus-specific PCR assays. Prevalence of EHV-5 infection in a group of young racehorses was estimated at 64% using the EHV-5 specific PCR on nasopharyngeal secretions.

Prevalence of EHV-2 and EHV-5 DNA in ocular and nasal swabs as well as peripheral blood mononuclear cells

“…Als Latenzorte sind PBMC für das EHV-5 bekannt (Dunowska et. al 1999, Bell et. al 2006, jedoch lassen die erfolgreichen PCR-Nachweise von EHV-5 in Augentupfern von gesunden Pferden vermuten (3/5), dass das Virus möglicherweise in latenter Form in Konjunktivalgewebe vorkommt.…”

“…, Neuseeland (Dunowska et al 1999(Dunowska et al , 2002, Ungarn, Schweden (Nordengrahn et al 2002) und Südkalifornien (Bell et al 2006) aus Nasentupfern und PBMC mit virusspezifischer PCR detektiert. In Deutschland konnte das Vorkommen von EHV-5 in Augentupfern und PBMC in mehreren Studien mittels PCR belegt werden (Krüdewagen et al 2001, Besthorn 2002, Fetsch 2007, einmal konnte das Virus sogar aus PBMC von einem gesunden Przewalskipferd aus dem Münchener Zoo isoliert werden (Borchers et al 1999).…”

Age-dependent prevalence of equid herpesvirus 5 infection

“…EHV-5 infection is considered ubiquitous in the horse population and has been detected in nasal secretions as well as in several organs of the horse from the age of 3-6 months to adult (Nordengrahn et al 2002;Bell et al 2006a;Torfason et al 2008). Data on the prevalence of the virus in horse populations is variable, with reports ranging from 3% (Fortier et al 2009a) to 64% (Bell et al 2006b). EHV-5 infection has been studied more in details in foals that have high prevalence rates during weaning and postweaning (Dunowska et al 2002;Nordengrahn et al 2002;Bell et al 2006a;Wang et al 2007).…”

Isolation and Partial Sequencing ofEquid Herpesvirus 5from a Horse in Iceland

“…7 Less is known about EHV-5 than about EHV-2, and only a few isolates have been described. 4 The 2 viruses have been shown to be common in Iceland. 28 The current report describes the isolation of EHV-5 from peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a 9-year-old mare (isolate BB5).…”

“…4,12 The RK-13 cells were infected with BB5 or BB11 supernatant from EqFKCs and incubated for 8 days. The supernatant from the RK-13 cells was subsequently harvested and used to infect fresh EqFKCs that were incubated until they showed almost 100% cytopathology.…”