Isolation and characterisation of cervine herpesvirus-1 from red deer semen

Authors: Rowe SM, Tisdall DJ
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 49, Issue 3, pp 111-114, Jun 2001
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Deer, Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant
Subject Terms: Diagnostic procedures, Viral, Disease/defect, Infectious disease, Reproduction, Reproduction - male, Semen, Species description
Article class: Short Communication

---

Abstract: AIM: This communication describes the isolation of herpesvirus during routine export examination of semen collected from red deer stags in New Zealand.
METHODS: Virus isolation was carried out using bovine embryonic lung (BEL) cells and viruses were characterised by direct immunofluorescense, restriction-fragment-length polymorphism analysis (RFLP), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis and nucleotide sequencing.
RESULTS: Herpesvirus was isolated from red deer semen on 2 different occasions from different animals. In both cases the virus was identified as cervine herpesvirus-1 (CvHV-1), based on RFLP, PCR and sequence analysis. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the glycoprotein-D gene showed 99.7% homology to the Banffshire strain of CvHV-1 and 89.5%, 89.2%, 85.3% and 79.6% homology to bovine herpesvirus 1.2 (BoHV-1.2), bovine herpesvirus 1.1 (BoHV-1.1), cervine herpesvirus-2 (CvHV-2) and caprine herpesvirus-1 (CpHV-1), respectively.
CONCLUSION: This is the first time that CvHV-1 has been isolated in New Zealand. Its inclusion in serological surveys will allow the prevalence of CvHV-1 in the red deer population to be assessed in this country. The clinical significance of CvHV1 infection in New Zealand red deer herds has yet to be determined.
KEY WORDS: Deer, semen, cervine herpesvirus 1 (CvHV-1), nucleotide sequence.

---