Experimental infection of pregnant sheep with bovine viral diarrhea virus 1b (AU526)

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) lacks strict host specificity and can infect many species in the order Artiodactyla. BVDV infection in pregnant heterologous hosts can be deleterious. Limited information exists regarding genomic changes occurring in BVDV upon infection of heterologous hosts. Using a BVDV isolate previously demonstrated to cause PI cattle, goats, and white-tailed deer, this study investigated the outcome of serial infection in pregnant BVDV-naive sheep, a heterologous species that is phylogenetically closely related to cattle.