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A MUCOSAL DISEASE VIRUS AS A CAUSE OF ABORTION HAIRY BIRTH COAT AND UNTHRIFTINESS IN SHEEP
Author(s) -
PLANT J. W.,
ACLAND HELEN M.,
GARD G. P.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
australian veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1751-0813
pISSN - 0005-0423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-0813.1976.tb13855.x
Subject(s) - inoculation , abortion , biology , virus , gestation , spleen , aborted fetus , coat , pregnancy , fetus , virology , physiology , veterinary medicine , medicine , immunology , paleontology , genetics
Summary A condition resembling border disease has been transmitted by the inoculation of pregnant ewes with material from affected lambs. Forty‐nine merino ewes, mated to merino rams 7 to 87 days previously, were inoculated with, an homogenate of brain, spinal cord and spleen from affected lambs. Mummified foetuses, abortions and stillbirths were observed, and lambs with hairy birth coats were born to ewes inoculated between days 12 to 70 of gestation. A mucosal disease virus (MDV), present in the original material, was recovered from the aborted foetuses and lambs. Attempts to induce passive protection using bovine anti‐serum to the C24V strain of MDV were not successful. The condition was also transmitted by inoculation of pregnant ewes with a cell culture supernatant prepared from tissue cultures that had been inoculated with an organ homogenate pool. MDV was present in the supernatant and was recovered from aborted foetuses and lambs. It is suggested that a condition in sheep in Australia resembling border disease is due to the infection of the pregnant ewe by a mucosal disease virus.