Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle UMR 7205, Réserve Zoologique de la Haute-Touche, Obterre, France.
Immunology-Vaccinology, Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine - FARAH, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
Transbound Emerg Dis. 2018 Dec;65(6):1697-1704. doi: 10.1111/tbed.12929. Epub 2018 Jul 2.
Alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 (AlHV-1) is a gammaherpesvirus carried asymptomatically by wildebeests (Connochaetes sp.) in sub-Saharan Africa. Although asymptomatic in wildebeest, AlHV-1 infection in a number of other ruminant species causes a severe and fatal lymphoproliferative disease named wildebeest-derived malignant catarrhal fever (WD-MCF). Several endangered species of captive ruminants are highly susceptible to developing WD-MCF if infected by AlHV-1, which is a critical concern in zoos, game reserves and wildlife parks where wildebeests are also kept in captivity. Here, we investigated the seroprevalence of AlHV-1 in 52 captive wildebeests randomly sampled from five different zoos in France. We found 46% (24/52) seropositive animals and detected AlHV-1 DNA in one of them, demonstrating that AlHV-1 infection is present in captive wildebeests in France. In an interesting manner, the repartition of seropositive wildebeests was not homogenous between zoos with 100% (20/20) of seronegative animals in three parks. These results further highlight the importance of considering WD-MCF as a threat for clinically susceptible species and encourage for testing AlHV-1 infection in captive wildebeests as a management control strategy.
α疱疹病毒 1 型（AlHV-1）是一种在撒哈拉以南非洲地区无症状携带的γ疱疹病毒，存在于角马（Connochaetes sp.）中。尽管在角马中无症状，但 AlHV-1 感染许多其他反刍动物物种会导致一种严重且致命的淋巴增生性疾病，称为源自角马的恶性卡他热（WD-MCF）。如果感染了 AlHV-1，一些濒危的圈养反刍动物物种极易患上 WD-MCF，这在动物园、野生动物保护区和野生动物园中是一个严重的问题，因为这些地方也会圈养角马。在这里，我们调查了来自法国五个不同动物园的 52 头随机抽样的圈养角马的 AlHV-1 血清流行率。我们发现 46%（24/52）的血清阳性动物，并在其中一只动物中检测到了 AlHV-1 DNA，这表明 AlHV-1 感染存在于法国的圈养角马中。有趣的是，血清阳性角马的分布在动物园之间并不均匀，三个公园中有 100%（20/20）的动物血清阴性。这些结果进一步强调了将 WD-MCF 视为对临床易感物种的威胁的重要性，并鼓励对角马进行 AlHV-1 感染检测，作为管理控制策略。
