Prevalence of equine gammaherpesviruses on breeding farms in Turkey

AKKUTAY A,; DAMIANI AM; KLAUS OSTERRIEDER

ARCHIVES OF VIROLOGY

SPRINGER WIEN

Lugar: Viena; Año: 2014

0304-8608

Equine herpesvirus type 2 (EHV-2) and EHV-5are members of the subfamily Gammaherpesvirinae. Theviruses are detected in horses with upper respiratory tractdisease and are associated with low performance in racehorses.The aim of the current study was to use nested PCRto investigate the epidemiology of EHV-2 and EHV-5 inArabian horse populations from breeding farms located inthree different cities (Eskis¸ehir, Malatya, and Bursa) inTurkey, using a real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) with aTaqMan minor-groove-binder (MGB) probe to detectEHV-5. Screening of blood and ocular and nasal swabsamples by nested PCR showed the prevalence of EHV-2and EHV-5 to be 59 % and 62 %, respectively, with acoinfection rate of 45 %. Thirty-seven isolates from bloodsamples were identified as EHV-2 using nested PCR. Todevelop the EHV-5 qPCR, a pair of primers and an MGBprobe were designed based on a highly conserved genomicregion encoding glycoprotein B (gB). The detection limitof the qPCR was 10 molecules per reaction, and it specificallydetected EHV-5 and no other herpesvirusesinfecting horses (EHV-1, EHV-2, or EHV-4). Whenapplied to field samples, the assay proved to be moresensitive than a well-established nested PCR. Therefore,the qPCR developed in this study provides a rapid, reliable,and sensitive diagnostic assay for the detection of EHV-5, and it complements other diagnostic procedures for equinerespiratory disease.