Abstract

Herding semi-domesticated reindeer has economic and social value for Sami people in the northern territories of Fennoscandia. However, with the intensification of reindeer husbandry, interspecies transmission of pathogens between reindeer and domestic animals may become a problem, especially for countries such as Sweden, Norway, and Finland where pestivirus and alphaherpesvirus have been eradicated in domestic ruminants. This study, which included 1158 Swedish reindeer, showed relatively high prevalence of antibodies against bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) (32%) and bovine herpesvirus-1 (BoHV-1) (53%). Adult animals were more often seropositive for BVDV and B0HV-1 (50% and 78%, respectively) than were calves (18 and 11%, respectively). While the seroprevalence of alphaherpesvirus was similar in different herding districts, pestivirus seropositivity was highest in the South and diminished towards the North of the Swedish reindeer herding area. High correlation of the seropositivity against both pathogens at both individual and herd levels may indicate possible mutual synergetic effects and may be explained by the immunosuppressive nature of the viruses. While alphaherpesvirus seroprevalence was probably related to putative cervid herpesvirus 2 (CvHV-2), the pestivirus infecting reindeer remains undefined. The virus neutralisation test of reindeer sera using different pestivirus strains, revealed higher titres against Border disease virus strains like 137/4 (BDV-1) and Reindeer-1 (BDV-2) than against BVDV-1. However, the virus was not identified by real time RT-PCR in any of the samples (n = 276) from seronegative reindeers. The study showed that pestivirus and alphaherpesvirus infections are endemic in the Swedish reindeer population. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Reindeer; Pestivirus; Alphaherpesvirus; Sweden; Epidemiology

Published in

Veterinary Microbiology
2012, Volume: 156, number: 1-2, pages: 64-71

SLU Authors

• Alenius, Stefan

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Belak, Sandor

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • National Veterinary Institute (SVA)

• Larska, Magdalena

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Clinical Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetmic.2011.10.018

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/43256