R. Krametter-Froetscher

Influence of communal Alpine pasturing on the spread of pestiviruses among sheep and goats in Austria: first identification of border disease virus in Austria.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the influence of communal Alpine pasturing on the spread of pestivirus infections among sheep and goats. The study included 481 sheep from 23 farms and 131 goats from 26 farms pastured on separated Alpine meadows in the western part of Austria. At the starting of pasturing on the sheep meadow, 325 (67.6%) animals were seropositive, on the goat meadows in 16 (12.2%) samples antibodies to pestiviruses were detected. At the end of pasturing, 74 seronegative sheep and two seronegative goats had seroconverted. Between the beginning and the end of pasturing the seroprevalence in sheep increased significantly from 67.6% to 83% (P < 0.05). Moreover, in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of four sheep, pestivirus‐specific RNA was detected before as well as after pasturing; these animals remained serologically negative throughout the investigation. They were, therefore, identified as persistently infected. Sequence analysis in the Npro region revealed that the detected pestiviruses were the same at genetic level and they were grouped into the Border disease virus (BDV)‐3 genotype. No pestivirus RNA was found in goat samples. The results of this survey indicate that communal Alpine pasturing does play a key role in the spread of BDV. Moreover, BDV has been identified and characterized for the first time in sheep in Austria, which until then had been regarded as being free from BD.

Investigation of the Role of Austrian Ruminant Wildlife in the Epidemiology of Malignant Catarrhal Fever Viruses

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is an ubiquitous disease of cattle and other ruminants caused by Ovine herpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2), which is endemic in sheep and transmitted from healthy carriers. Further viruses of the MCF group are also able to induce MCF in ruminants. As alpine pasturing is very common in Austria, possible contact with ruminant wildlife carrying and excreting MCF viruses might be suspected as an infection source. To investigate the epidemio-logic role of Austrian deer and chamois, spleen samples were collected from 55 red deer (Cervus elaphus), 72 roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), four fallow deer (Dama dama), and five chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) during the hunting seasons 2001–2003. Samples were tested by both herpesvirus consensus and OvHV-2–specific polymerase chain reaction. As all spleen samples tested negative, there is no indication that in the region and period investigated, MCF viruses circulated in wild ruminants.

Descriptive study of a pestivirus infection in an Austrian goat.

THE Pestivirus genus, within the family Flaviviridae, includes four accepted species, border disease virus (bdv), bovine viral diarrhoea virus (bvdv) types 1 and 2, and classical swine fever virus (csfv), and a tentative ‘Giraffe’ species ([Fauquet and others 2005][1]). Pestivirus infections in