Conservation Medicine, 47000, Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia.
EcoHealth Alliance, New York, NY, 10018, USA.
Virol J. 2021 Nov 24;18(1):231. doi: 10.1186/s12985-021-01694-x.
Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus haemorrhagic disease (EEHV HD) is the leading cause of death in captive Asian elephant calves in Asia, North America, and Europe with a mortality rate of ~ 65% in calves that are under human care. Although EEHV HD was first found in elephant camps, more recently it was identified in wild populations which poses a greater threat to the elephant population. Deaths due to EEHV HD have been seen in wild elephants, but the in-situ prevalence and mortality rate is unknown. We report the first EEHV HD cases in Malaysia from 3 wild born endangered Bornean elephant calves from Sabah with known typical clinical signs.
The first calf died within 24 h of the onset of clinical signs; the second calf died within 12 h of the onset of clinical signs. The third calf succumbed within 72 h. Necropsies revealed that all 3 calves had similar presentations of EEHV HD but in the third calf with less severity. We conducted conventional polymerase chain reaction (cPCR) assays and found EEHV DNA at all 7 loci in the 3 calves; it was identified as EEHV1A, the virus type that has been found in most other reported cases.
Typical EEHV HD clinical signs and the molecular confirmation of EEHV by cPCR and sequencing point to EEHV as the cause of death. Further genetic investigation of the strain is in progress.
亚洲象内皮细胞疱疹病毒出血病（EEHV HD）是亚洲、北美和欧洲圈养亚洲象幼仔死亡的主要原因，在人类照料下的幼仔中，死亡率约为 65%。尽管 EEHV HD 最初是在象营中发现的，但最近在野生种群中也发现了这种病毒，这对大象种群构成了更大的威胁。在野生大象中也有因 EEHV HD 而死亡的病例，但原位流行率和死亡率尚不清楚。我们报告了首例在马来西亚发现的 EEHV HD 病例，来自沙巴的 3 只野生出生的濒危婆罗洲幼象，具有典型的临床症状。
第一头幼象在出现临床症状后 24 小时内死亡；第二头幼象在出现临床症状后 12 小时内死亡。第三头幼象在 72 小时内死亡。尸检显示，所有 3 头幼象均表现出类似的 EEHV HD 症状，但第三头幼象的症状较轻。我们进行了常规聚合酶链反应（cPCR）检测，在 3 头幼象的所有 7 个部位均发现了 EEHV DNA；它被鉴定为 EEHV1A，这是在大多数其他报告病例中发现的病毒类型。
典型的 EEHV HD 临床症状以及 cPCR 和测序对 EEHV 的分子确认表明 EEHV 是死亡的原因。正在对该菌株进行进一步的遗传调查。
