Žlabravec Zoran, Vrezec Al, Slavec Brigita, Kuhar Urška, Zorman Rojs Olga, Račnik Joško
Institute of Poultry, Birds, Small Mammals, and Reptiles, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Gerbičeva ulica 60, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
National Institute of Biology, Department for Organisms and Ecosystems Research, Večna pot 111, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Animals (Basel). 2021 Aug 27;11(9):2519. doi: 10.3390/ani11092519.
Birds are a frequent host of a large variety of herpesviruses, and infections in them may go unnoticed or may result in fatal disease. In wild breeding populations of owls, there is very limited information about the presence, impact, and potential transmission of herpesvirus. The herpesvirus partial DNA polymerase gene was detected using polymerase chain reaction in oropharyngeal swabs of 16 out of 170 owls examined that were captured in or near nest boxes. Herpesvirus was detected in Ural owls (), in both adults and young, but not in tawny owls (). In yellow-necked mice (), as the main prey of tawny owls and Ural owls in the area, herpesvirus was detected in the organs of 2 out of 40 mice captured at the same locations as the owls. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the herpesvirus sequences detected in the Ural owls differed from the herpesvirus sequences detected in the yellow-necked mice. The results indicate that herpesvirus infection exists in the breeding wild Ural owl population. However, herpesvirus-infected owls did not show any clinical or productivity deviances and, based on a phylogenetic comparison of detected herpesvirus sequences and sequences obtained from Genbank database, it seems that mice and other rodents are not the source of owl infections. The most probable transmission pathway is intraspecific, especially from adults to their chicks, but the origin of herpesvirus in owls remains to be investigated.
鸟类是多种疱疹病毒的常见宿主，它们感染这些病毒可能未被察觉，也可能导致致命疾病。在野生猫头鹰繁殖种群中，关于疱疹病毒的存在、影响及潜在传播的信息非常有限。在170只于巢箱或其附近捕获的猫头鹰中，有16只的口咽拭子通过聚合酶链反应检测到疱疹病毒部分DNA聚合酶基因。在乌拉尔猫头鹰（）中检测到疱疹病毒，成年和幼年个体均有感染，但在仓鸮（）中未检测到。在该地区作为仓鸮和乌拉尔猫头鹰主要猎物的黄颈姬鼠（）中，在与猫头鹰相同地点捕获的40只小鼠中，有2只的器官检测到疱疹病毒。系统发育分析表明，在乌拉尔猫头鹰中检测到的疱疹病毒序列与在黄颈姬鼠中检测到的疱疹病毒序列不同。结果表明，野生繁殖的乌拉尔猫头鹰种群中存在疱疹病毒感染。然而，感染疱疹病毒的猫头鹰未表现出任何临床或繁殖异常，并且基于对检测到的疱疹病毒序列与从Genbank数据库获得的序列进行的系统发育比较，小鼠和其他啮齿动物似乎不是猫头鹰感染的来源。最可能的传播途径是种内传播，尤其是从成年个体传给雏鸟，但猫头鹰疱疹病毒的起源仍有待研究。
