Investigation of the presence of the etiological agents of malignant catarrhal fever in clinically healthy ruminants in zoological gardens

: Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is an infectious disease in even-toed ungulates including domestic cattle and wild living ruminants, which repeatedly also occurred in zoological gardens in Europe. The goal of the study presented here was to determine whether wild ruminants--here in the sense of non-domesticated ruminant species in zoological collections--normally not known as carriers of MCF viruses, may carry and shed these viruses and thus might play a possible role as source of infection. To this end, swap samples from eye, nose, and rectum, and also some blood samples, collected from different ruminant species in 11 zoological gardens and animal parks in the years 2007 to 2009 were examined with real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR) for the presence of the genome of viruses known to cause MCF most frequently: alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 (AIHV-1), ovine herpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2), caprine herpesvirus 2 (CpHV-2) and malignant catarrhal fever virus--white-tailed deer (MCFV-WTD) The results of this investigation showed the presence of the genomes of one--or more--of these MCF viruses in five of the contributing institutions. A total of 28 samples (12.84%) proved to be positive. In no case, the presence of the AIHV-1 genome was detected. For the first time, the presence of the MCFV-WTD genome was demonstrated in goats, indicating a carrier state of this animal species.