Open AccessAbortions in dromedaries (Camelus dromedarius) caused by equine rhinitis A virus
Author(s) -
U. Wernery,
Nick J. Knowles,
Chris Hamblin,
Renate Wernery,
Sunitha Joseph,
Jöerg Kinne,
Peter D. Nagy
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of general virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1465-2099
pISSN - 0022-1317
DOI - 10.1099/vir.0.82215-0
Subject(s) - biology , virus , picornavirus , virology , herd , veterinary medicine , abortion , respiratory tract , pregnancy , respiratory system , medicine , zoology , anatomy , genetics , gene , rna , biochemistry
A virus was isolated from aborted dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) fetuses during an abortion storm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Laboratory investigations showed the causative agent to be indistinguishable from equine rhinitis A virus (ERAV), a picornavirus. Two pregnant dromedaries experimentally infected with the camel virus isolate both aborted and an identical virus was reisolated from both fetuses, thus confirming the diagnosis. The extremely high prevalence of antibody (>90 %) and the high titres recorded against ERAV in the dromedary herd clearly showed that ERAV does infect dromedaries. Unlike horses, where ERAV targets the upper respiratory tract, in dromedaries the target organ appears to be the genital tract.
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