Recognition of another member of the malignant catarrhal fever virus group: an endemic gammaherpesvirus in domestic goats.

A novel gammaherpesvirus in goats that is herein tentatively designated as caprine herpesvirus-2 was identified based on the sequence of a fragment from the herpesvirus DNA polymerase gene. Sequence alignment analysis revealed that the virus sequence isolated from goats was 67% identical to the homologous sequence from alcelaphine herpesvirus-1, 71% identical to ovine herpesvirus-2 and 73% identical to a recently recognized herpesvirus causing malignant catarrhal fever in white-tailed deer. Combined serological and PCR-survey data demonstrated that this virus is endemic in goats and its transmission pattern may be similar to that of ovine herpesvirus-2 in sheep.