Levels of ovine herpesvirus 2 DNA in nasal secretions and blood of sheep: implications for transmission.

A recently developed competitive PCR for ovine herpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2) was used to examine the levels of viral DNA in nasal secretions and peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) of lambs and adult sheep. Viral DNA first appeared in the PBL of most lambs after about 3 months of age and the levels remained relatively constant thereafter. In most of the lambs (83%, n=12), viral DNA was undetectable by PCR in nasal secretions prior to 5 months of age. A dramatic rise of OvHV-2 DNA levels in the nasal secretions occurred starting at 5-6 months of age, which peaked at approximately 7 months. The highest level recorded in lamb nasal secretions was 7.5x10(8)copies/2microg DNA which were 75,000-100,000-fold higher than the levels in PBL of the same lambs. In adult sheep (n=10), the viral DNA levels in both PBL and nasal secretions were relatively stable over the 13-month period of the study, which included a lambing season. The data strongly suggest that neonatal lambs are not an important source for the transmission of OvHV-2 to clinically susceptible species, and that the nasal cavity is an important portal for shedding of infectious OvHV-2 in sheep. Furthermore, this study failed to identify a seasonal pattern in levels of viral DNA in nasal secretions or PBL of adult sheep that would provide a basis for the traditionally held belief that clinical cases of malignant catarrhal fever are significantly associated with lambing ewes.