Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Ruminant Diseases and Immunology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #326484
Title: Serological evidence of Hobi-like virus circulation in Argentinean water buffaloes

Author
item PECORA, ANDREA - Instituto Nacional De Tecnologia Agropecuaria
item PEREZ, MARIA - Instituto Nacional De Tecnologia Agropecuaria
item MALACARI, DARIO - Instituto Nacional De Tecnologia Agropecuaria
item ZABAL, OSVALDO - Instituto Nacional De Tecnologia Agropecuaria
item SALA, JUAN - Instituto Nacional De Tecnologia Agropecuaria
item CASPE, SERGIO - Instituto Nacional De Tecnologia Agropecuaria
item BAUERMANN, FERNANDO - Universidade Federal De Santa Maria
item Ridpath, Julia
item DUS-SANTOS, MARIA - Instituto Nacional De Tecnologia Agropecuaria

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/18/2016
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Objectives: The aim of this work was to determine the serological levels of BVDV-1, BVDV-2 and Hobi-like Virus in non-vaccinated water buffaloes from three northeast provinces of Argentina, in order to have an update of the circulation of pestiviruses in that region. Materials and methods: Mediterranean and Murrah Water buffaloes (n = 130) were sampled from 12 extensive breeding farms across Corrientes, Chaco and Formosa provinces in Argentina. Blood samples from each animal were aseptically collected from the jugular vein in sterile vacutainers using separate needles. Sera were obtained after centrifugation and the inactivation was performed at 56°C for 30 minutes. Virus neutralization assays were performed for each serum, using 96-well plates, MDBK cells and 100 TCID50 of cytopathic BVDV-1 (Singer strain), BVDV-2 (VS253 strain) and HoBi-like virus (Italy 83/10). Sera were tested at serial two-fold dilutions to determine the neutralizing antibody titers against BVDV-1, BVDV-2 and HoBi-like virus. The neutralizing antibody titers were expressed as the reciprocal of the highest dilution that neutralized viral infectivity. Spearman-Karber titers were calculated to analyze the results. Results: 88 water buffaloes were seronegative to the three virus strains. On the other hand, 53% of the seropositive animals (n=22) contained significant higher levels of neutralizing antibodies against Hobi-like virus than against BVDV-1a or BVDV-2. 40% of the seropositive animals showed significant higher levels of BVDV-1a in comparison to BVDV-2 and Hobi-like virus and the rest of them (7%) showed similar neutralizing antibody levels against BVDV-1a and Hobi-like virus. All the animals which showed higher neutralizing antibody titers against Hobi-like virus belonged to farms located in Corrientes Province, which is bordering Brazil. On the contrary, water buffaloes from Formosa or Chaco provinces were seronegative against the three strains or showed higher levels of neutralizing antibodies against BVDV-1a. Conclusions: The circulation of BVDV-1 in argentinean water buffaloes has been previously reported (Craig et al, 2015). However, in this work, we found for the first time serological evidence of Hobi-like virus circulation in buffalo livestock from this country. The provinces involved in this study are located near Brazil, where several isolates of Hobi-like virus were reported . Further work should be performed to isolate the local Hobi-like virus and to determine its pathogenicity. Also, it should be determined if this virus is also affecting cattle from the analyzed region.