Isolation of some respiratory viruses from camels

The presence of three of the main respiratory viruses found in camels, that is, peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV), bovine para-influenza virus 3 (PIV3) and bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1), was investigated and isolation of these viruses in different cell cultures was carried out. A total of 100 pneumonic camel lungs collected from slaughterhouses were screened for the presence of PPR, PIV3 and BHV-1 viral antigens using ELISA. Forty five were found to be positive for PPRV, 15 for PIV3 and 4 for BHV-1 virus antigen. Of these samples, 15 PPR, 12 PIV3 and 3 BHV-1 positives were inoculated in MDBK cell line, primary and secondary lamb and bovine kidney cells. Each of the three viruses were successfully isolated in the different cultures used; CPE was seen at day 14 for PPR, day 3 for PIV3 and day 2 for BHV-1 after infection; CPE was observed, characterized by cell rounding, elongation with some syncytia formation for both PPR and PIV3, and BHV-1 samples showed cell rounding, edematous cells and cell sheet detachment. This is the first report of the isolation of PPR virus from camels.