Institute of Veterinary Virology, Vetsuisse Faculty University of Bern, Laenggass-Str. 122, PO Box 8466, CH-3001 Bern, Switzerland.
Institute of Veterinary Virology, Vetsuisse Faculty University of Bern, Laenggass-Str. 122, PO Box 8466, CH-3001 Bern, Switzerland.
Virus Res. 2016 Jun 15;218:49-56. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2015.09.012. Epub 2015 Sep 25.
Pestiviruses infect a wide variety of animals of the order Artiodactyla, with bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) being an economically important pathogen of livestock globally. BVDV is maintained in the cattle population by infecting fetuses early in gestation and, thus, by generating persistently infected (PI) animals that efficiently transmit the virus throughout their lifetime. In 2008, Switzerland started a national control campaign with the aim to eradicate BVDV from all bovines in the country by searching for and eliminating every PI cattle. Different from previous eradication programs, all animals of the entire population were tested for virus within one year, followed by testing each newborn calf in the subsequent four years. Overall, 3,855,814 animals were tested from 2008 through 2011, 20,553 of which returned an initial BVDV-positive result. We were able to obtain samples from at least 36% of all initially positive tested animals. We sequenced the 5' untranslated region (UTR) of more than 7400 pestiviral strains and compiled the sequence data in a database together with an array of information on the PI animals, among others, the location of the farm in which they were born, their dams, and the locations where the animals had lived. To our knowledge, this is the largest database combining viral sequences with animal data of an endemic viral disease. Using unique identification tags, the different datasets within the database were connected to run diverse molecular epidemiological analyses. The large sets of animal and sequence data made it possible to run analyses in both directions, i.e., starting from a likely epidemiological link, or starting from related sequences. We present the results of three epidemiological investigations in detail and a compilation of 122 individual investigations that show the usefulness of such a database in a country-wide BVD eradication program.
瘟病毒感染偶蹄目动物的多种动物，牛病毒性腹泻病毒（BVDV）是全球畜牧业中一种具有重要经济意义的病原体。BVDV 通过在妊娠早期感染胎儿，从而在牛群中持续存在，并产生持续感染（PI）动物，这些动物在其一生中有效地传播病毒。2008 年，瑞士启动了一项全国性的控制运动，旨在通过寻找和消除每一头 PI 牛，从该国所有牛群中根除 BVDV。与以往的根除计划不同，在一年内对整个牛群的所有动物进行了病毒检测，随后在接下来的四年中对每头新生小牛进行检测。总的来说，2008 年至 2011 年期间对 3855814 头动物进行了检测，其中 20553 头动物最初的 BVDV 检测结果呈阳性。我们能够从至少 36%的最初阳性检测动物中获得样本。我们对超过 7400 株瘟病毒株的 5'非翻译区（UTR）进行了测序，并将这些序列数据与 PI 动物的一系列信息（包括它们出生的农场的位置、它们的母畜以及动物居住的地点）一起编译到一个数据库中。据我们所知，这是最大的结合了地方性病毒疾病的病毒序列和动物数据的数据库。使用唯一的识别标签，数据库中的不同数据集连接在一起，以运行多种分子流行病学分析。大量的动物和序列数据使得从可能的流行病学联系或相关序列开始进行分析成为可能。我们详细介绍了三个流行病学调查的结果和 122 个单独调查的汇编，展示了这种数据库在全国 BVD 根除计划中的有用性。
