Bovine herpesvirus 1 infection in cattle: a discussion on vaccination and control

Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis is a disease of significant financial importance in cattle systems throughout the world. The causal organism bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV1) is recognised as one of the agents involved in the bovine respiratory disease complex and infection with the virus also has an adverse impact on reproductive performance and can result in fetopathy. Latent viral infection is an important feature, allowing the virus to persist successfully in herds infecting successive generations of animals. In naive animals BHV1 interferes with the innate response to infection by inhibiting interferon production and by infecting leukocytes, slowing the development of the immune response. Nevertheless recovery from infection is associated with a strong and life long immunity. A range of approaches have been taken to vaccination to protect against this disease, including gene-deleted marker vaccines that have facilitated a differentiation of infection from vaccination (DIVA) approach to diagnosis and herd...