Investigation of seroprevalance of domestic isolate bovine herpesvirus TYPE-1 (BHV-1 trsamsun2019/2B) in cattle and SHEEP of the central Black Sea region

BHV-1 is the causative agent of multiple latent infections in cattle known as Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR), Infectious Pustular Vulvovaginitis (IPV) and Infectious Balanophosthitis(IBP). The virus can only cause respiratory system (IBR) or genital system (IPV/IBP) infections, however, the infection in both systems can be noticed at the same time. Infected animals are the most important source of spreading the disease in the herd due to the latent course of infection for this virus. As a result, it causes great economic losses to the breeders through its effect on meat, milk production and fertility. This study aimed to investigate the serological presence of IBR/IPV/IBP infection in cattle and sheep farms distributed in five provinces geographically located in the Central Black Sea region using the local BHV-1 strain (TRSAMSUN2019/2B) isolated previously in our region. For this purpose, a total of 1720 archived blood serums were used, this including 1089 cattles and 631 sheeps blood serums, which were sent to the Samsun Veterinary Control Institute between the years 2018-2020 from the provinces of Sinop, Samsun, Ordu, Amasya and Tokat for routine examination. These blood serums were first tested serologically with the Serum Neutralization method, through pools formation with 10 blood serums in each pool. Then, the pools evaluated as antibody-positive were opened, and the Serum Neutralization test was performed again on all samples in the pools. As a result of the Serum Neutralization test, the antibody titer value of the samples, which were considered positive, was evaluated by performing the SN50 test, and the presence of antibodies was detected in the blood serum of 75 cattles and 44 sheeps in total. In the study, the ratio of bovine blood serum, which was considered positive for antibody presence, to the samples taken was 6.9%, and the proportion of sheep blood sera to the samples taken was 7.0%. With this study, the status of the current disease was compared with the studies carried out in the region in the past, and information was obtained about the seroprevalence of the local Bovine Herpes Virus Type-1. Despite the nature of BHV-1 as cattle-specific disease, the serological status of this virus has been revealed in small ruminants of this study.