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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » Animal Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #136938
Title: CAPRINE HERPESVIRUS 2 ASSOCIATED MALIGNANT CATARRHAL FEVER IN DEER

Author
item Li, Hong
item GARNER, M.
item WUNSCHMANN, A.
item Keller, Janice
item ROSENBURG, S.
item HALL, D.
item CRAWFORD, T.

Submitted to: Herpesvirus International Workshop
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/20/2002
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A presumptive histopathologic diagnosis of malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) was made in three cases of disease in Sika deer and white-tailed deer with various degrees of hair loss and skin lesions. Antibody against an epitope conserved among the MCF group viruses was detected in the serum of all diseased deer. DNA samples from the deer were subjected to a variety of PCR amplifications. Alignment of the amplified sequences from the diseased animals revealed that they were 100% identical to each other, and to the same DNA fragment from the newly recognized member of the MCF virus group of rhadinoherpesviruses that is endemic in domestic goats, provisionally named caprine herpesvirus 2 (CpHV-2). This study provides the first evidence that CpHV-2 is a pathogen, at least, for deer, and emphasizes the diversity of disease patterns of which the members of MCF group viruses are capable of causing.