A longitudinal study of bovine viral diarrhea virus in a semi-closed management dairy cattle herd, 2020-2022

Abdullah I A Al-Mubarak; Anwar A G Al-Kubati; Abdullah Skeikh; Jamal Hussen; Mahmoud Kandeel; Baraa Flemban; Maged Gomaa Hemida

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1221883

A longitudinal study of bovine viral diarrhea virus in a semi-closed management dairy cattle herd, 2020-2022

Front Vet Sci. 2023 Sep 14:10:1221883. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1221883. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Abdullah I A Al-Mubarak¹, Anwar A G Al-Kubati², Abdullah Skeikh³, Jamal Hussen¹, Mahmoud Kandeel^{4

5}, Baraa Flemban¹, Maged Gomaa Hemida⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, King Faisal University, Al-Hofuf, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Thamar University, Dhamar, Yemen.
³ Camel Research Center, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, King Faisal University, Al-Hofuf, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh, Egypt.
⁶ Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Long Island University, Brookville, NY, United States.

Abstract

Introduction: Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) brings great economic loss to the cattle industry worldwide. Developing a control/prevention strategy requires the prior assessment of certain epidemiological parameters. To determine the BVD incidence rate and associated risk factors, a dairy cattle herd in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia was monitored between 2020 and 2022.

Methods: Nasal swabs (n = 190), rectal swabs (n = 190), and sera (n = 190) were collected from 79 cows in this herd. Collected sera and swabs were tested using the commercially available ELISAs for the BVDV antibodies and antigens, respectively. Collected sera were also tested for the presence of BVDV nucleic acids using commercial real-time RT-PCR kits.

Results and discussion: Our data show BVDV seroprevalence (18.8%, 15%, and 8.2%) in the tested animals in 2020-2022, respectively. None of the collected nasal swabs, rectal swabs, or sera tested positive for the BVDV antigen, whereas 10.1%, 10%, and 18.1% of the tested sera were positive for BVDV nucleic acid in 2020-2022, respectively. The incidence rate was estimated at 0.02446 new cases/year despite the detection of BVDV in seronegative animals on single or two occasions at ≥6-month intervals. Young calves and bulls remained apparently unexposed to BVDV despite their presence with BVDV-infected females, with no significant physical separation. Both seropositivity and nucleic acid detectability showed significant positive and negative correlations, respectively, with reproductive performance. Collectively, the present study provides useful clues about the transmissibility of BVDV in the presence of possibly persistently infected animals. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study of BVDV in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia. Further detailed characterization of the circulating BVDVs is encouraged.

Keywords: ELISA; RT-PCR; bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV); longitudinal study; persistent infection; surveillance; transient infection.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology, grant number 12-BIO3152-06.