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. 1998 Jun 1;39(2):251–264. doi: 10.1186/BF03547797

An Experimental Study of a Concurrent Primary Infection with Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus (BRSV) and Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV) in Calves

Experimentell studie av en samtida primärinfektion med bovint respiratoriskt syncytialt virus (BRSV) och bovint virus diarré virus (BVDV) hos kalv

M Elvander 110,210,✉, C Baule 210, M Persson 110, L Egyed 210, A Ballagi-Pordány 210, S Belák 210, S Alenius 110,210
PMCID: PMC8050681  PMID: 9787488

Abstract

Experimental infections with bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) and bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) were performed to study the effect of concurrent BRSV and BVDV infections. Twelve seronegative calves, in 3 groups, were inoculated on a single occasion with pure BRSV (group A), BRSV and noncytopathogenic BVDV (group B) or mock infected (group C).

Mild respiratory symptoms were recorded 4 to 5 days post inoculation (dpi) in group A and group B calves. One calf in group A was severely affected and required medical treatment. In group B, fever (40.7-41.4 °C) was prominent 7 to 8 dpi. Only calves in group B were BVDV positive in purified lymphocytes at 2 to 14 dpi and showed increased serum interferon levels, with a peak at 4 dpi, indicating BVDV to be responsible for inducing the rise.

BRSV was detected in lung lavage fluids up to 7 dpi for group A calves, compared to 11 dpi for group B and calves in this group also seroconverted later displaying lower BRSV titers. The time lag before an antibody response and the titers recorded in group B, indicated that the duration of BVDV infection in lymphocytes negatively influenced the capacity to mount a BRSV antibody response. kw|Keywords|k]cattle; k]respiratory disease; k]interferon; k]PCR

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Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to Lisbeth Fuxler for performing the interferon analyses, and to Dr GE Jones and Dr B Klingeborn for constructive criticism. We also thank Professor S O Jacobsson for permitting us to use the premises at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and to Kerstin Berglund and the rest of the staff there for taking excellent care of the animals.

This research was supported by grants from the Swedish Farmers' Foundation for Agricultural Research, Stockholm, Sweden.

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