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The Macavirus , ovine gammaherpesvirus 2 (OvGHV2), is the cause of sheep-associated malignant catarrhal fever (SA-MCF). Although SA-MCF occurs in a wide range of mammalian hosts, there are few descriptions of this disease and/or infection in goats. This report describes the findings observed in a goat that was infected by OvGHV2 and adds to the rare description of this infection in this animal species. A 6.5-year-old, female, Anglo Nubian goat, with a neurological syndrome, that was euthanized after severe esophageal obstruction was investigated to determine the cause of the brain disease. Histopathology revealed cerebral cortical edema, hemorrhagic rhombencephalitis, severe hepatic necrosis, and atrophic enteritis. An immunohistochemical (IHC) assay identified intracytoplasmic antigens of a malignant catarrhal fever virus (MCFV) within epithelial cells of the intestine, liver, lungs, and kidneys. A semi-nested PCR assay amplified the partial fragment of the OvGHV2 tegument protein gene from the intestine, confirming that the MCFV identified by IHC was OvGHV2. A qPCR assay that targeted the OvGHV2 polymerase gene revealed an elevated quantification cycle ( Cq ), while nanoplate-based digital PCR (dPCR) detected low viral copy load within the OvGHV2 DNA. Furthermore, the nucleic acids of several disease pathogens associated with diseases in ruminants were not amplified. However, the exact cause of the neurological syndrome remained obscure since nucleic acids of neurological disease pathogens such as bovine viral diarrhea virus, bovine alphaherpesvirus 1 and 5, Histophilus somni , and OvGHV2 were not detected from the brain. Collectively, the results of the Cq and dPCR confirmed that this goat was infected with a low viral load of OvGHV2, which probably was insufficient to induce the typical histopathological alterations and subsequent clinical manifestations associated with SA-MCF and/or infections by OvGHV2. Therefore, elevated viral loads of OvGHV2 would have been required for the development of histological lesions and/or clinical manifestations of SA-MCF in this goat. Furthermore, the dPCR methodology can be used for the efficient detection and quantification of OvGHV2 DNA in animals with or without clinical and/or histopathological evidence of SA-MCF. Additionally, since previous cases of OvGHV2 infections in goats did not have the typical clinical manifestations of SA-MCF, one wonders if this Macavirus can induce SA-MCF in goats.

Ovine gammaherpesvirus-2 (OvHV-2) causes a lethal disease in cattle and some wild ruminants called malignant catarrhal fever (MCF), which affects the epithelial and lymphoid tissues of the respiratory and digestive tracts and has an important impact on the livestock industry. In this study, MCF was diagnosed in 18 of 427 cattle from different sites in Egypt by its typical clinical signs, found in all 18 animals: corneal opacity, fever, erosions in the buccal cavity, lymphadenitis, and purulent nasal discharge. All affected cattle had been reared in contact with clinically inconspicuous sheep. Of the 18 clinically ill cattle, 13 succumbed to the disease, resulting in estimated morbidity and case fatality rates of 4.2% and 72.2%, respectively. Five samples collected from the affected cattle were positive for OvHV-2 by real-time PCR and were used for sequencing of an 832-bp fragment of the ORF27/gp48 gene. The ORF27 nucleotide sequence of all Egyptian samples was identical, but distinct from viruses found in other parts of Africa and the Mediterranean.

An outbreak of sheep associated malignant catarrhal fever in crossbred cattle in a village of Andhra Pradesh, southern India, affected thirteen adult cows and two calves from a population of forty animals. All the affected animals were died between December and January 2013–14. The clinical and gross postmortem findings were typical of MCF in Indian crossbred cattle. Migrating sheep flocks were suspected source of infection for the cattle. The diagnosis was confirmed by heminested PCR in all the affected cattle and the suspected sheep flock. The PCR provided evidence of ovine herpes virus type 2.

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a fatal lymphoproliferative disease affecting bovids, cervids and other ruminant species caused by viruses belonging to subfamily Gammaherpesvirinae, genus Macavirus. Among the 10 MCF viruses known to cause the disease, alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 (AlHV-1) and ovine herpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2) are the two most widely prevalent causative organisms. The AlHV-1 naturally infects wildebeest and causes wildebeest associated MCF (WA-MCF) in cattle in regions of African sub-continent. The OvHV-2 is prevalent in all varieties of domestic sheep as a sub-clinical infection and causes sheep associated MCF (SA-MCF) in susceptible ruminants in most regions of the world. In India, the detection of cases of SA-MCF in cattle and OvHV-2 infection in sheep during the last decade has established the presence of the virus in native sheep of the country. The present review presents up to date information on various aspects of SA-MCF and its causative agent OvHV-2 with special reference to Indian scenario.

An outbreak of a disease characterised by very high mortality occurred in a group of nine calves (1B4 months old) in a zero-grazing unit 2-3 weeks after an introduction of an apparently healthy alien sheep into the calf pen. Five of the six calves which contracted the disease died. The main clinical signs observed were marked depression, persistently high body temperature (40,5-41,5 degrees C), copious mucopurulent nasal and ocular discharges, dyspnoea, bilateral keratoconjunctivitis with corneal opacity, enlargement of the superficial lymph nodes and marked erythema and/or superficial erosions of the buccal mucosae. At necropsy there were lesions in the upper respiratory and digestive tracts, lymph nodes, brain, eyes, liver, kidneys and the urinary bladder. The lesions were histopathologically characterized by fibrinoid vasculitis which was accompanied by lymphocytic infiltration in the parenchyma of the affected tissues. Based on the evidence of contact between the calves and the recently introduced foreign sheep, the characteristic clinical signs and histopathological findings, a diagnosis of sheep-associated malignant catarrhal fever was made.