Molecular Characterisation and Antibody Response to Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Vaccinated and Infected Cattle in Turkey

Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) from the family Pneumoviridae causes severe respiratory disease in bovine leading to economic losses to the cattle industry. The genome of this virus has ten genes that encodes for eleven proteins. The eleven proteins are: glycoprotein (G), fusion protein (F), RNA polymerase (L), matrix protein (M), nucleoprotein (N), polymerase cofactors M2-1 and M2-2, phosphoprotein (P), small hydrophobic protein (SH), and the two non-structural proteins NS1 and NS2. Fever, coughing, decreased feed intake, increased breathing rate, oedema, and nasal discharge are the main clinical signs of this disease especially in calves. Vaccination is the major management component that aims at mitigating this respiratory disease. This study analyzed the immune status of vaccinated and non vaccinated cattle. Out of 162 sera samples 46% had antibodies to BRSV. Ten nasal swabs and 4 lung samples tested positive for BRSV RNA with RT-PCR. The results from this study show that seropositivity in vaccinated animals was statistically significant and that the rate of detection of BRSV-RNA in these animals was lower than in non-vaccinated animals
(BEC)