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. 1987 Mar 1;28(1):23–31. doi: 10.1186/BF03548253

Latent Herpesvirus Infection in Red Deer: Characterization of a Specific Deer Herpervirus Including Comparison of Genomic Restriction Fragment Patterns

Latent herpesvirus infektion hos kronhjort: Karakterisering af et specifikt hjorte herpesvirus underbygget ved sammenligning af genom restriktions-fragmentmønstre

L Rønsholt 14,24,, L Siig Christensen 14,24, V Bitsch 14,24
PMCID: PMC8185749  PMID: 2825490

Abstract

Glucocorticoid treatment of imported red deer (Cervus elaphus), seropositive to Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR) virus, reactivated a latent herpesvirus infection, which was transmitted to a seronegative deer with a fatal outcome. However the virus did not spread to cattle housed in close contact with the infected deer, and serological indication og infection in the cattle was observed only on direct nasal installation of virus. The virus isolate had characteristics in common with other Alpha herpesviruses and especially the Bovid Herpesvirus type 1 (BHV-1) but distinguished itself from the latter by its host specificity, serological reaction and genomic restriction fragment pattern (RFP). The host specific red deer herpesvirus was tentatively designated Cervid Herpesvirus type 1 (CHV-1). It was concluded that CHV-1 seropositive deer can be a threat to red deer farming, while in cattle the infection may only cause minor inconvenience through interference with the serological IBR diagnosis.

Keywords: red deer herpesvirus, CHV-1, latent infection, genomic restriction fragment pattern, RFP, cattle.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank I. Poulsen, B. Jacobsen, B. Eriksen and P. Normann for their technical assistance. The red deer were kindly made available by the Danish Association of Deer Breeders.

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