Key result
Antisera against a novel ovine pestivirus neutralized the classical swine fever virus (CSFV) reference strain with significantly higher titres than those specific for BDV and BVDV strains.
Why the study?
A novel ovine pestivirus genetically closely related to CSFV was detected in aborted lamb foetuses, prompting evaluation of its serological relatedness to BVDV, BDV, and CSFV selected strains.
The novel ovine pestivirus is antigenically closely related to classical swine fever virus, which could have severe implications for CSFV surveillance if it switches to porcine hosts.
Novel ovine pestivirus in aborted foetuses is hypothesis-generating; leaves open its role in reproductive losses and surveillance needs.
The genus Pestivirus comprises globally distributed members of the family Flaviviridae, which cause severe losses in livestock. The most common species of the genus are bovine viral diarrhoea virus type 1 (BVDV-1) and type 2 (BVDV-2), classical swine fever virus (CSFV) and border disease virus (BDV). Recently, a novel ovine pestivirus was repeatedly detected in aborted lamb foetuses on a farm located in the Brescia Province (Italy). Complete genome characterization of this isolate showed that it was highly divergent from known pestivirus species and that it was genetically closely related to CSFV. The aim of this study was to determine the serological relatedness between the identified novel pestivirus and BVDV, BDV and CSFV selected strains for which homologous serum was available, by antigenic characterization performed using cross-neutralization assays. The serological relatedness was expressed as the coefficient of antigenic similarity (R). Both field and specific antisera raised against the ovine pestivirus neutralized the CSFV reference strain Diepholz with titres significantly higher than those specific for the BDV and BVDV strains. Furthermore, the calculated R values clearly indicated that the novel ovine pestivirus is antigenically more related to CSFV than to ruminant pestiviruses, in agreement with the results of the genomic analysis. This would have severe consequences on CSFV serology in the event of a switch to porcine hosts with implications for CSFV surveillance and porcine health management.
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Casciari et al. (2020) studied Pestivirus infection. Novel ovine pestivirus antisera vs. BVDV, BDV, and CSFV selected strains was evaluated on Serological relatedness expressed as the coefficient of antigenic similarity (R). Antisera against a novel ovine pestivirus neutralized the classical swine fever virus (CSFV) reference strain with significantly higher titres than those specific for BDV and BVDV strains.
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