Detection of ovine herpesvirus-2 in clinical cases of sheep-associated malignant catarrhal fever in balinese cattle and apparently healthy sheep in East Nusa Tenggara

¹ Indonesian Research Center for Veterinary Sciences, Ministry of Agriculture, Bogor, Indonesia.
² Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Nusa Cendana, Kupang, Indonesia.

^* Corresponding author: agusrini@indo.net.id

Abstract

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a disease causing a fatal outcome in cattle and generates economic losses worldwide. This study aims to detect the cause of the disease in Balinese cattle showing clinical signs such as high fever, serous ocular mucopurulent nasal discharges, and enlargement of pre-scapularis and pre-femoralis lymphnodes. These cattle were previously housed 50 meters away from a flock of sheep which were brought from Sabu Island 3 months earlier. Samples including blood, ocular, nasal, and vaginal swabs were collected from 22 sheep, 30 goats, 33 clinically healthy cattle (22 Balinese and 11 Ongole cattle), and 3 infected Balinese cattle. Samples were processed and tested using A nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. Results showed t hat 12 sheep out of 22 and 3 out of 3 infected Balinese cattle were positive MCF, suggesting a potential spread of the disease from sheep to Balinese cattle. No goats and Ongole cattle that were positive indicate that these animals are less susceptible to Ovine Herpesvirus-2 (OvHV-2) infection compared to Balinese cattle. The finding of 5 positive samples from 22 healthy Balinese cattle shows the potential of sub-clinical infection of OvHV-2.